Afghan Women's Healthcare

Background:  Afghanistan's health care system was decimated by more than 25 years of war and violence. Sadly, the breakdown of the Afghan health care system had a particularly devastating impact on women and children. The severe shortage of qualified female physicians in Afghanistan limits the government's capacity to address disastrous maternal and child health problems. Every 30 minutes, an Afghan woman dies during childbirth. The country has nearly the highest maternal mortality rates in the world at 1600 per 100,000 live births and in some regions it is several times greater than that. 44 years is the average life expectancy rate for women in Afghanistan and 70 to 80% of women face forced marriages.

During the Taliban regime teaching about the human reproductive system and female anatomy was prohibited. Afghan physicians who trained during the Taliban regime, and to some extent during the prior civil war, became doctors without any education in obstetrics and gynecology or any other female health concerns. 

CURE International Hospital:  The CURE International Hospital in Kabul is a recognized center of excellence for reproductive health care. A recent survey by medical experts from the U.S. Military and the Ministry Public Health in Afghanistan deemed the CURE International Hospital as the best facility in Afghanistan for women's reproductive health care. The facility is a 90 bed hospital with 28 beds devoted to ob/gyn and fistula care.

The support from the Fistula Foundation will provide CURE with resources to expand their treatment for Afghan women suffering from obstetric fistula through specialized training for Afghan health workers. The further development of this expertise is very much in line with CURE International's core vision to teach specialty surgery in the developing world.

The goal of the CURE International's project funded by the Foundation is to increase the skill and number of health care providers able to treat obstetric fistula in Afghanistan in order to expand treatment of women with fistula in Afghanistan.