Our Work in Afghanistan
Today, Afghans have one of the lowest life expectancies (44 years) and highest infant mortality rates (over 150 deaths per thousand live births) in the world. One of every four Afghan children dies before his or her first birthday. Continued armed conflict makes security tenuous for Afghan civilians, who find it difficult to obtain basic services when much of the country is inaccessible to international assistance agencies. About three-quarters of the population have no access to clean drinking water.
International Medical Corps has tended to Afghan health care needs since 1984. Between 1984 and 1996, International Medical Corps maintained 52 clinics and 7 hospitals in war-torn areas of Afghanistan, in addition to two teaching hospitals in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. As one of the largest training organizations for Afghan professionals, International Medical Corps trained more than 1,000 health professionals and workers during this period, including medical doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, lab technicians, mid-level health workers and vaccinators. In 1994, we transferred our training and health care activities to an International Medical Corps-constructed training hospital north of Kabul. With support from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Office (ECHO) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), our medical activities continued at the training hospital under International Medical Corps’ Afghan management, logistics and medical teams.
Following the suspension of International Medical Corps activities in 1996 due to Afghanistan’s political situation, many of our technical staff went on to fill senior management positions in Afghan NGOs and today serve in high positions within the Ministry of Public Health. They have remained steadfast in their commitment to strengthen the Afghan health system, with their significant leadership in health policy development nationally recognized among Afghan health care providers. International Medical Corps returned to Afghanistan in July 2001. In the past decade, we successfully implemented dozens of primary health care programs around the country, and integrated development and cash for work programs in over ten provinces.