A working window
As one of the few sectors allowed to employ women, NAC’s health education programs are a lifeline for women’s employment and healthcare provision for women and girls, especially in rural and hard-to-reach communities.
The healthcare sector in Afghanistan continues to struggle following the collapse triggered by international sanctions and the change of government in 2021. During the year, NAC provided capacity building to healthcare staff, supported the education of healthcare workers, and provided healthcare services in rural and hard-to-reach communities.
In 2022, NAC provided capacity building trainings to 195 faculty and staff (86 women) of the Ghazanfar Institute of Health Sciences (GIHS) and other regional institutes of health sciences (IHSs) in areas such as clinical mentorship, nursing, management, effective teaching methods, and psychosocial support (PSS).
Health services are now available in Dre Kholo, Aryub Zazi District, Paktia Province
Supporting women
Through our support to regional IHSs in Kapisa, Khost, Nangarhar and Paktia, NAC provided health education to students from Bamiyan, Ghazni, Kabul, Kapisa, Khost, Laghman, Logar, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Paktia, Paktika, Panjshir, Parwan, and Wardak provinces. Specifically, 34 students graduated from, and 80 new students enrolled in our midwifery programs, and five students graduated from and 77 new students enrolled in our health nursing programs (all female). 39 women and 19 men graduated from our physiotherapy programs. And in our pharmacy technician and lab technician programs, 53 new students were enrolled (18 female) during the year. To support women’s empowerment and gender equality, childcare and kindergarten facilities are provided in the three regional IHSs we support to enable women to more easily study and work at the institutes.
NAC’s health projects generate employment opportunities for graduates of NAC’s health related education programs.
Cost-efficient
In addition to the four existing women-owned and -run continuum-of-care centers (CCCs) in Kapisa and Khost, four new CCCs were established in 2022 in Kapisa and Paktia. In all the CCCs, 17 midwives and three midwifery mentors (one per province to supervise and mentor midwives) were employed. These CCCs provided quality reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent healthcare services for underserved communities in «white areas» of the provinces.
Services, such as ante-natal care, post-natal care, deliveries, and family planning and health consultations were provided to more than 30 000 women and children through the eight CCCs during the year.
The CCCs offer an extremely cost-efficient service, allowing the patients to pay according to their own means, and is free for the poorest. This is possible because the local communities contribute significantly by offering premises free of charge, ensure maintenance and provide security on a voluntary basis.
Bringing services to communities
During the year, NAC also supported a mobile emergency health team in Dre Kholo of Aryub Zazi District in Paktia Province to provide 8 800 patients with emergency healthcare services, including 360 surgeries. More than 50% of the patients who received care through the mobile emergency health team were women and children. In response to a request from the provincial government officials in Paktia, NAC also initiated the construction of an emergency health center in Dande Patan District, Paktia Province, for critical patients waiting to cross the border into Pakistan. The shelter was set to contain separate rooms for women and men and living quarters for the nurses who will be working in the shelter.
Read about the latest class of midwives who graduated in the spring of 2022 here
In Kapisa, Khost, and Paktia, NAC established three physiotherapy centers to provide physical rehabilitation services to people with disabilities and patients requiring physiotherapy. Each center has separate facilities for female and male patients and is well-equipped and staffed with one female and one male physiotherapist. In addition, there is one mentor per province supervising and mentoring practicing physiotherapists.
”This clinic is very good for our community, and we are grateful to the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee for their support.”
Community member in Dre Kholo
Providing employment opportunities
NAC’s health activities continue to provide gainful employment opportunities for our graduates and healthcare services to some of the remotest areas of the country. In many of the areas where we work, we are the only entity ensuring that basic healthcare needs are met.
NAC remains committed to supporting the healthcare sector in Afghanistan and will continue to build on our efforts and achievements in the years ahead.
53 new students (18 female), were enrolled in NAC’s pharmacy technician and laboratory technician programs in 2022.
Graduation ceremony for physiotherapy students in Kapisa Province.
