Afghanistan’s Health System Since 2001: Condition Improved, Prognosis Cautiously Optimistic

Five years ago, in the immediate post-conflict period,  Afghanistan’s health services were in a deplorable state. Based on relatively scant information available at the time, the situation appeared chaotic. Capacity in both public and private sectors was quite limited and the outlook for the future was unclear. The AREU Issues Paper published in July 2002 noted vast differences across the country in access to health services, and drew attention to the severe shortage of health personnel and a “grossly deficient, even absent, infrastructure.” Where health services were available at all, the level and quality of delivery varied considerably, and there was no policy framework within which non-governmental organisations (NGOs) could operate. Instead, healthcare was “delivered on a project basis by many distinct, relatively uncoordinated service providers.”