ISLAMABAD SEPT 11 : The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged Taliban authorities to lift restrictions on Afghan female aid workers, allowing them to travel without male guardians and assist women struggling to access medical care after a powerful earthquake killed 2,200 people in eastern Afghanistan.
“A huge issue now is the increasing paucity of female staff in these places,” said Dr Mukta Sharma, deputy representative of WHO’s Afghanistan office, in remarks to Reuters.
She noted that about 90% of medical staff in the affected region are men, while the remaining women are mostly midwives and nurses rather than doctors capable of treating severe injuries. This, she said, is limiting care as many women feel uncomfortable—or unable—to interact with male staff or travel alone to health facilities.
The September 1 magnitude-6 quake and its aftershocks injured more than 3,600 people. They left thousands homeless in a country already dealing with severe aid cuts and a slew of humanitarian crises since the Taliban took over in 2021 as foreign forces left.
The Afghan health ministry and a spokesperson for the Taliban administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Taliban have previously said they would ensure women could receive aid.
In 2022, the administration ordered Afghan female NGO staff to stop working outside the home. Humanitarian officials say there have been exemptions, particularly in the health and education sectors. Still, many noted that these were patchy and insufficient to accommodate a surge of female staff, especially in emergencies that require travel.
That meant aid organisations and female staff faced uncertainty, Sharma said, and in some cases, they were unable to take the risk.
“The restrictions are huge, the mahram (male guardian requirements) issue continues, and the de facto authorities have provided no formal exemption,” she said, adding her team had raised the issue with authorities last week.
“That’s why we felt we had to advocate with (authorities) to say, this is the time you really need to have more female health workers present, let us bring them in, and let us search from other places where they’re available.”
Sharma said she was highly concerned about women in the future being able to access mental health care to deal with trauma, as well as for those whose male family members had been killed, leaving them to navigate restrictions on women without a male guardian.
Peer Gul from Somai district in Kunar province, which was severely hit by the quakes, said many women from his village had experienced trauma and high blood pressure after the earthquake and were struggling to reach medical care.
“There is no female doctor for examinations; only one male doctor is available,” he said.
Sharma noted the growing shortage of Afghan female doctors as the Taliban has barred female students from high school and university, meaning a pipeline of women doctors was not being replenished.
The UN estimates around 11,600 pregnant women were also impacted by the quakes in a country with some of the highest maternal mortality rates in Asia.
Funding cuts, including those by the US administration this year, had already left the health system reeling. Around 80 health facilities had already closed in the affected areas this year due to US aid cuts, and another 16 health posts had to be shuttered due to damage from the earthquake, Sharma said.
Ref: Online The International News
