Afghan women face health care crisis
Afghanistan has been confronted by war, natural calamity and civil instability which have destroyed infrastructure of all kinds. Women are most vulnerable to limited health care because of limited number of female health care providers and medical facilities, war, social stigma around gender, and a lack of trained medical staff available in Afghanistan. According to UNICEF, Afghanistan’s maternal death rate is 1,800 per 100,000 live births.
In the past, women were forbidden to leave their homes without being accompanied by a male companion such as husband, father, brother or son. This presented difficulties especially in emergencies when seeking medical care for either the women themselves or their children. All female doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other female hospital employees were prohibited from working in hospitals in Kabul. To make things even more difficult, there was only one 35-bed hospital in Kabul where women were permitted to get treatment. There was no clean water or sufficient electricity supply, oxygen, surgical and diagnostic equipment in that facility. Male doctors had very limited contact with female patients. As a result, the quality of women’s health care diminished alarmingly, and Afghanistan became ‘number one’ for the country with the highest maternal mortality rate. It was estimated that a woman in this country died every 30 minutes from complications relating to pregnancy.
Over the last decade, the health care situation has begun to improve. Some hospitals have restored limited access for women, and female medical workers have got some access to practice with the help of the International Red Cross in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan cultural factors, concurrent insecurity, the difficulties of travelling in harsh winters on inadequate roads and transport to get access to better treatment in the main cities, and restriction of movement pose serious challenges to women. In rural areas, many husbands do not want their wives to be treated by a male doctor. With such a limited number of skilled health personnel, one child in five dies before reaching five years of age.
Faced with such obstacles, President Hamid Karzai has praised recent developments in medical facilities provided to the people in Kabul. While the situation has improved in the city however, in other provinces of Afghanistan the situation is still rather bleak. The services being provided in the public hospitals are inadequate and not according to the standards found in the nation’s capital. So while health facilities in the capital are relatively improved, the hospitals are overcrowded because of the influx of patients from across Afghanistan. Private hospitals on the other hand provide better facilities but charge exorbitantly rendering the services unaffordable for a most people. In recent years, the international community has contributed significantly and extended valuable support to the health sector.
Numerous non-governmental organisations are also playing important roles in the health sector in Afghanistan. Mahboba’s Promise is dedicated to providing basic medical care where it’s most needed. The Hope House Medical and Dental Centre in Afghanistan has one doctor and one dentist to treat children and widows. General problems are treated in this clinic, but the serious cases are referred to the city medical centre. Mahboba’s Promise has also introduced a Crisis Health Fund which is available to respond quickly to medical emergencies. Although, the Hope House Medical and Dental Centre is partially self-sufficient, the continuation of this much need facility needs the support of generous Australian donors.
