Afghanistan: Maternal health biggest challenge facing women

Last year, only 30% of pregnant Afghan women received some kind of attention from a health professional.

When you think of Afghanistan women dying, you think of: war, abuse or even drugs. However, the number of women dying while giving birth is 25 times more than people dying from security-related violent crimes.

Health care professionals are desperately needed. While things are improving, it’s at a glacial pace. Literacy is also a serious issue. The literacy rate is one of the lowest in the world. Women who cannot read, are unable to educate themselves to health issues related to their pregnancies.

Some 24,000 Afghan women die every year while giving birth, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which is working with the Afghan government and other partners to reduce maternal mortality and improve the overall health of women and girls in the war-torn nation.

“The biggest challenge that Afghan women face is maternal health and high maternal mortality,” Ramesh Penumaka, UNFPA Country Representative in Afghanistan, told journalists in Kabul on Tuesday.

Penumaka noted that 1,600 out of every 100,000 women that give birth die in the process. “That is a staggering 24,000 a year, about 25 times the number of people dying of security-related violent incidents,” he stated.

The reasons why so many Afghan women die while giving birth range from early marriage – more than half the girls are married before they are 18 – and lack of health facilities and skilled birth attendants to lack of education.

Posted by antiguanoctane
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