Afghanistan faces long road to health care: Karzai

KABUL, April 7 (AFP) - It will take Afghanistan 20 to 30 years to raise health standards in the war-torn nation to those of other countries, President Hamid Karzai said Monday in a speech to mark World Health Day.
"For people in Afghanistan World Health Day has more importance than for other countries of the world since the needs of Afghans regarding health services are greater," Karzai said at the ministry of health in Kabul.
"Our country for a long time has faced poor health services and poor health knowledge and their negative effects are quite obvious and painful all over the country."
Afghanistan's health services and education have suffered severe setbacks in 23 years of war, with many areas lacking even basic health care facilities.
"We hope that in 20-30 years' time Afghanistan will have the health facilities that other countries have now," the president said.
"Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran, all our neighbours are 30 to 40 years more advanced than Afghanistan in the health sector.
"We should try to catch up this distance of several decades in around 10 years."
Pointing out that life expectancy in Afghanistan is just 45 years, compared with 75 to 80 in Europe and 65 to 70 in neighbouring countries, Karzai, 45, blamed the lack of preventative measures and health services.
"Afghanistan will never get rid of this disaster unless as a nation we do our best to get more professional, to take firm steps towards having and developing hospitals and clinics all over the country.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Sunday warned that millions of Afghan women and children still face major health and nutrition problems, with maternal and infant mortality in the war-ravaged nation among the worst in the world.
Afghanistan's infant mortality rate is amongst the world's highest at 165 per 1,000 live births, while its maternal mortality ratio is 1,600 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.
UNICEF representative Sharad Sapra said health improvement was vital to Afghanistan's development.
UNICEF plans to establish emergency obstetrics clinics in all of Afghanistan's 32 provinces by the end of the year.
wm-mtp/bc/rcw AFP
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Received by NewsEdge Insight: 04/07/2003 05:47:06

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