Empowering Women for Rural Health
More than 21,000 community health workers provide better access to health services for rural families in Afghanistan.
Istalef, Kabul Province, Afghanistan
Empowering Women for Rural Health Success Story
Dr. Suraya Dalil, Acting Minister of Public Health and Dr. Laurent Zessler, UNFPA Representative to Afghanistan at a joint press conference held in 2010 on UNFPA’s US$6.1 million assistance to the Ministry of Public Health for support to reproductive health programmes.
Having sufficient and qualified health care workers to address the pressing health care needs of women and children in rural communities across Afghanistan is an enormous challenge. Cultural barriers make it hard for women to leave their homes and travel to seek the health care they need. With 85 percent of the population living in villages, there are few options to provide proper care and advice to these rural families. However, one of them seems to be working very well: community health workers (CHWs).
In 2010 alone, the Afghan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), with support from USAID, trained approximately 700 CHWs to educate families about proper sanitation and hygiene. CHWs also provide basic health care services and refer patients to health facilities after checking for danger signs in sick children and pregnant women. Since roughly half of the CHWs are women, the CHW program also promotes women’s empowerment. This gender balance is in itself a tremendous accomplishment for Afghanistan where, for years, women had few options for proper health care.
Madina is a community health worker in the village of Istalef. She travels from house to house three days a week to provide prenatal care and family planning advice to women.
Madina, a widow who lost four of her eleven children during the Taliban years, found new meaning to her life after becoming a CHW. She received training and a trunk full of essential medicines from the MoPH. She now works under the supervision of the Comprehensive Health Center in Istalef, a small village north of Kabul. “I come to the health center to help my community provide essential services, to educate in areas where there is no nearby health facility, and provide prenatal care and family planning advice,” she explained. “I started my work five years ago as a community health worker after my 14-year-old daughter was sick and her husband didn’t let her go to the hospital to deliver her baby. Now, I try to raise people’s awareness about prenatal care, family planning, and serious health problems for mothers and infants.”
The Ministry of Public Health assigns each community health worker to address the basic healthcare needs of 100-150 families (approximately 1,000 individuals).
With support from USAID, the National Program of Community Based Health Care (CBHC) has mobilized more than 21,700 CHWs who, like Madina, provide basic health education, services, and referrals. The Ministry of Public Health’s CBHC program is a significant step towards improving access to health care for rural communities, especially for women and children.
Many rural women have limited autonomy and low status, which puts them at increased risk of hunger, gender-based violence and other human rights violations. Advancing rural women’s political, social and economic status are vital ends in themselves as well as critical strategies to eradicate poverty, promote women’s rights and pave the way for sustainable development.
Improving access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights is essential for rural women’s empowerment and ability to earn an income and feed themselves and their family. When women can make free and informed choices in all spheres of life, including marriage and number and spacing of their children, they can reach their full potential and further contribute to the development of their communities and nations.
UNFPA works with governments and other development partners to empower rural women and ensure that they can claim their right to sexual and reproductive health. With our partners, we strive to strengthen healthcare systems and develop new ways to inform women and girls about their rights, especially about access to family planning. These efforts save lives and advance human development.
Afghanistan, Empowering Women for Rural Health
October 8, 2010 by
