A Good Diagnosis for Afghanistan: Strengthening The Health Sector

Afghanistan recently completed its first-ever Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), the international “gold standard” assessment tool used by over 90 countries to evaluate a population’s health and disseminate nationally representative data on fertility, family planning, maternal and child health, gender, HIV/AIDs, and nutrition. This event will discuss key findings from the USAID-funded survey, review the current state of health in Afghanistan, and introduce the Ministry of Public Health’s vision for the future as described in the draft National Health Strategy 2016-2020. The event will include a discussion on the current state of child and maternal health, the Ministry of Public Health’s efforts to combat corruption in the health sector, and the progress Afghanistan has made compared to its regional neighbors.

[AmirAnsari-ettn]

Very interesting panel discussion. MoPH Afghanistan along with its international partners, esp USAID are doing their part to evolve a stronger health sector in Afghanistan. However, it is logical to address all social determinants of health in Afghanistan such as peace and stability, education, employment, economic challenges, remoteness of 40% of the population, environment (sanitation and water), nutrition, food security, food safety, women's rights, children's rights, social equity, national unity, cultural participation of all ethnic groups, freedom of speech etc. I expect that we shouldn't do business as usual in Afghanistan. We need more innovations and out of the box efforts. Afghan diaspora could help Afghanistan health sector through PPP and MoPH to fill up need of medical specialists, especially surgeons, to travel in a planned schedule and do surgeries and also train young Afghan doctors in Kabul, Herat, Mazar, Kandahar cities. Afghanistan needs a competent secondary and tertiary medical care to reduce catastrophic out of pocket expenditures and also improve the local capacity to reach self-sufficiency in acute medicine and also in provision of most of the highly sophisticated medical care. Those challenges and solutions raised by Dr. Feroz and Michael are indicating that the health sector in Afghanistan and its international partners are aware of the opportunities in front of them.