Management Sciences for Health - Afghanistan

In order to reach these vulnerable populations quickly, MSH will work with established Afghan and international NGOs to strengthen and rapidly expand access to health services in rural areas. Through a performance-based grant program, MSH will bring additional financial and technical resources to train, supply and support community health workers in hard-to-reach areas. Male and female trainees will be selected by and drawn from the local communities. NGOs will also provide health education and basic care for common diseases such as diarrhea and acute respiratory infections, purchase needed pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, and repair health facilities.

MSH will also work with the Ministry of Public Health, key NGOs, and other donors to survey health facilities, as well as workers and other potential providers of health services, such as shops and pharmacies throughout the country. The survey will employ local Afghans to map the location of facilities, workers and services, a critical step for donors and the government in planning for additional services in underserved areas. In addition, MSH will work with the Ministry in building links with underserved areas, establishing national policies to improve the impact of health services, and developing in-country management capacity to create sustainable services.

Children, Health, Women.

Health resources in Afghanistan are currently concentrated in a few urban centers, while 40% of the Afghan population has no access to primary health care services. Many others have limited services of extremely poor quality, as exemplified by the extremely high rates of infant mortality throughout the country, where one in every four children dies before the age of five.

"The health needs of the people of Afghanistan are great, yet many skilled health workers have either left the country or not received any formal training for many years," said Dr. Ron O'Connor, founder and CEO of MSH. "It is imperative that training and financial resources be provided to improve and expand services for the women and children who currently face among the worst health prospects in the world today," O'Connor noted.

MSH is a private, non-profit organisation focussing on the application of practical management tools to improve the delivery of health services. MSH has worked with Afghanistan for 15 of the last 30 years, twice having implemented major USAID-supported health programmes from 1970 to 1979 and again from 1986 to 1994. In the latter period, MSH trained, supported, supplied and monitored over 2,200 Basic Health Workers and 300 health facilities - such as basic health centers, district and regional hospitals - providing care to the rural Afghan population.