Afghanistan

Background
Afghanistan’s valuable strategic position between the Middle East, Central Asia, and India, along the famous “Silk Road,” has meant that many nations have fought to control it. Such protracted domestic and international conflict has left its economy and infrastructure in ruins. In the 1990s, after routing a Soviet occupation, Afghanistan’s Taliban regime aggravated already dismal socioeconomic conditions, placing severe restrictions on the mobility, education, and employment of women, in particular.

Its fall at the end of 2001, however, marked the beginning of the nation’s recovery. In late 2002, schools for girls re-opened, and overall enrollment is now at a record high of four million students. Education, employment, and health care opportunities for women have increased dramatically. In 2006, Afghanistan held its first direct presidential elections in history, and now faces the momentous task of rebuilding its economy and rehabilitating its infrastructure.

Still, with a population of 26 million, Afghanistan has among the lowest health indicators in the world. The average life expectancy for an Afghan citizen, for example, is just 42 years.

What IMC Is Doing


Since its founding in 1984, IMC has worked in Afghanistan to provide communities with the opportunity to lift themselves and their children out of poverty. IMC’s dedicated staff and volunteers implement a variety of programs aimed at improving the quality and accessibility of primary health care services, as well as promoting livelihoods. IMC not only provides direct services to Afghans, such as immunizations and surgical care, but also trains health care practitioners and community members - all part of IMC’s approach to helping people get back on their feet and plan for the future.

IMC currently serves a target population of more than one million people throughout seven provinces in central, southeast, and eastern Afghanistan, providing, among other things:

• A full range of health care services and training in 42 health facilities, plus a supportive network of more than 400 community health workers in remote areas that provide primary health care, health education, and referrals to clinics;
• Treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, including extensive health education on HIV/AIDS; treatment of TB patients with short-course chemotherapy and corollary direct-observable-treatment; and distribution of mosquito nets to prevent malaria, coupled with drugs to treat those who have contracted the disease;
• Pre- and post-natal care, emergency obstetric care, family planning, and related training services for health care professionals and midwives, in a country with an extremely high maternal mortality rate;
• Health education and wellness information delivered to rural women via a network of IMC-trained community midwives
 aimed at reducing the risk of disease among women of childbearing age; and
• Creation of an oral health pilot project, which involves training and building the local capacity of dentists to repair cavities in school-age children.

IMC’s very first humanitarian program started in Afghanistan in 1984, with a focus on providing heath care to a devastated population and training for its medics. IMC’s staff and volunteers continue that work today, building on the foundations laid by a generation of dedicated and hard-working Afghans.