Afghanistan Healthcare Crisis: Women Barred From Nursing School

Women training as midwives and nurses in Afghanistan have been prohibited from attending classes. 

Five separate institutions across Afghanistan have also confirmed to the BBC that the Taliban had instructed them to close until further notice, with videos shared online showing students crying at the news. 

A student, shared, "For many of us, attending classes was a small glimmer of hope after long periods of unemployment, depression, and isolation at home."

Worst Maternity Mortality Rates Already

The Taliban have also banned women from being treated by male healthcare professionals already. United Nations said in 2023 that Afghanistan needs an additional 18,000 midwives to meet the needs of the country. Afghanistan already has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with a report released last year noting 620 women were dying per 100,000 live births.

The Future is Bleak

Mariam Aman, assistant editor from the BBC’s Afghan language service, said the implications were enormous, adding: “You can imagine five years down the line, women will be giving birth at home alone and there will be districts with no midwives and no access to health.”

Afghanistan has around 10 public and more than 150 private health institutes offering two-year diplomas in 18 subjects, ranging from midwifery to anaesthesia, pharmacy and dentistry, with a total of 35,000 women students, health ministry sources said. When the Taliban banned education for females in 2021, health institutes remained one of the few options available to them. 

Earlier, for the working women in the healthcare sector, more than 4 in 5 of the female health workers surveyed reported safety issues such as being stopped and harassed by the Taliban because they were not being accompanied by a required male chaperone known as a “mahram.”

Effacing Women Rights

Taliban has deprived 1.3 million girls from the right to education. Since 2021, the body has banned girls from continuing schooling after the sixth grade. in 2022, The Ministry of Higher Education informed the country's public and private universities that women were suspended from university education. Taliban fails to understand the role of women in making a better society. Seeing from the male-centric lens, educated women will become better mothers for their children and can contribute to the finances of the family.