Nursing, midwifery and allied health education programmes in Afghanistan

In 2001, Afghanistan was the centre of the world's attention. By 2002, following 23 years of internal conflict - including Soviet invasion, civil war and Taliban rule, plus 3 years of drought, the country was just beginning the process of re-establishing its internal structures and processes. In the health sector, this included the revival of the Ministry of Health (MOH). The MOH was assisted in its efforts by multiple partners, including the UN, donor and aid agencies, and a variety of non-governmental organizations. The author served as a consultant to the Aga Khan University School of Nursing, in partnership with the World Health Organization and the MOH, as it took on the work of strengthening nursing, midwifery and allied health education programmes for Afghanistan.

This paper will focus on the initial assessment of that sector. It will describe the situation as it existed in 2002, by examining the Kabul Institute of Health Sciences (IHS) and then turn briefly to the current state of affairs.

Despite the uncertainties of daily life in Afghanistan, the country has successfully initiated the reconstruction process. In the health sector, this can be seen in the work done at the Kabul IHS. Progress has been made in a number of areas, most notably in development and implementation of nursing and midwifery curricula. However, no one would deny that much more work is needed.