TodaysNetworkNews: 19 December 2009 - W.H.O.: Afghanistan - Afghanistan's fiercely cold winter, the raging insecurity and funding shortfalls are having a major impact on the health of millions of people in this war-ravaged country.
World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Afghanistan, Peter Graaff, said more than 6 million people are without adequate health care across Afghanistan, particularly in large swathes of the north where heavy snowfall has cut off many villages for the next several months.
The current winter season is of great concern to health providers due to the massive increase of acute respiratory infection cases (ARI) and the emergence of H1N1. There has also been a 60% increase in ARI infections at the current time compared to the same period this year, with at least 942 cases of the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus among them. Eighteen of 34 provinces have reported community transmission of the pandemic.
SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Graaff, WHO Representative to Afghanistan:
The weather is getting cold, this means again that a large number of people do not have access to health services. Their villages are snowed in. but also certain diseases, including acute respiratory infections, are on the rise. We see ARI 60% more than last year and we are sure that many of those cases are H1N1.
In Afghanistan, more than 150,000 infants die every year, two women die every hour due to complications related to pregnancy and delivery, and one in 14 children under five suffer from acute malnutrition.
SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Graaff, WHO Representative to Afghanistan:
"Afghanistan is regretfully still No. 2 in the world when it comes to maternal mortality. Out of every 100,000 live births, 1600 women die and that is unacceptable."
Insecurity is jeopardizing operations of WHO and its Health Cluster partners, particularly the delivery of health services, making polio eradication difficult and preventing qualified staff from working in remote and rural areas of the country.
SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Graaff, WHO Representative to Afghanistan:
"In addition to lack of access and security, there are problems in terms of geographical access. There are remote areas and during winter large parts of the country are completely snowed under. And this means that there are villages that will be without access to the outside world for 4, 5 to even 6 months at a time.
Just 4300 qualified doctors are working in Afghanistan, 80% of whom work in Kabul and other major cities. Very few are in the insecure and remote rural areas where most people are in need of humanitarian aid and have no access to health services.
SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Graaff, WHO Representative to Afghanistan:
We don't have enough doctors; we definitely don't have enough nurses. And the numbers of female health workers is especially very low and badly needed in order to address the health needs of women in this very conservative society.
Despite challenges, the health sector is achieving much. WHO is performing critical roles to protect people's health through Health Cluster coordination, advocacy and health service delivery. In 2009, WHO helped train more than 2000 government and Health Cluster staff in different fields, including emergency surgical care, anaesthesia, outbreak response and emergency preparedness. Polio campaigns in southern Afghanistan during the second half of 2009 immunized 95% of the children even in insecure districts where access was previously impossible.
SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Graaff, WHO Representative to Afghanistan:
We were the first country in the world that used bivalent polio vaccine, a very powerful weapon to eradicate polio. The trick now is to reach as many children as we can. We are appealing to all parties to the conflict to allow our vaccinators in. Health is a matter of the future of the country. Health is neutral and health is there for all children.
For the winter, WHO has distributed medicines that can treat 90,000 cases of acute respiratory infections and also essential emergency medicines that can treat 200,000 people for three months, and are planning to provide double this amount soon (400,000 people) thanks to support from the Norwegian government. .................................................................................... ( WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: WHO ) ..............................................................................................................................
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