ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – A new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report documents the implications of the reduction in foreign aid and the Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls, on Afghanistan’s healthcare system.
The report “A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future: Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis,” was released on Monday, February 12. HRW says that the decisions by donors to reduce humanitarian aid have weakened healthcare access, destabilized the economy, and worsened food insecurity in the country.
The crisis has been significantly worsened by the Taliban’s abusive policies and practices, particularly their bans on education for women and girls, which have obstructed the training of future female healthcare workers, leading to foreseeable shortages, the organization reports.
According to Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at HRW, the suspension of development aid and the Taliban’s restrictive policies “have caused a catastrophic health crisis in Afghanistan that is disproportionately harming women and girls.” women are particularly harmed by the situation, as the Taliban limit their ability to provide or access healthcare, Abbasi said, “while the cost of treatment and medicine has put care out of reach for many Afghans.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly warned of a crippling health system crisis in Afghanistan, posing a serious threat for millions of people in the county to not receive necessary healthcare assistance and increase risks of infectious diseases and outbreaks.
While donor support for Afghanistan was shrinking even before the Taliban takeover, the regime’s disregard of widespread international pressure to reverse their repressive policies and end their violations of women and girls’ rights have deterred many countries from funding development programs in Afghanistan.
HRW says that the collapse of the economy and the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs after the Taliban takeover have driven many people into extreme poverty, leaving them unable to pay for their medical expenses, worsening their social determinants of health, and threatening rights essential for maintaining an adequate standard of living, including the right to food.
In its new report, HRW argues that in order to alleviate the suffering of people in Afghanistan, donor countries should press Taliban leaders for removing all barriers hindering or delaying people’s access to healthcare and humanitarian aid, boost and maintain funding for healthcare system, undertake measures to normalize payments and transactions, and enhance support for training and educational initiatives for girls and women in health-related fields.
