Save Afghan Women & Children with Health Care

AIL has 12 health centers in its clinic network. These clinics improve access to basic health care for the most underprivileged people. In Herat there are 2 main clinics – Jaghartan treats 6,900 patients each month and Maladan treats 3,200. There are 4 additional clinics which treat between 130 and 560 patients each. Kabul has 2 clinics - 315 Khair Khaneh clinic treats 6,000 patients monthly and Khowaja Jam treats 4,500.

So far in the year: over 99,000 patients have been treated, 15,899 reproductive patients have received care including contraceptive, pre and post- natal care, 329 babies have been born in clinics, 10,335 vaccinations have been done, health education has been provided to 70,930, 16,212 people have received nutritional assessments and 1,242 were identified as malnourished, Community Health Workers made 4,754 family visits.

People who have access to quality health care are more able to care for themselves and their families. Good health is vital to the ability of people to work or study, especially for those who are day laborers and have no resources to fall back on if they become ill. AIL clinics are free and open to all to attend.

Thank you for your support for improved health care and health education in Afghanistan.

DONATE between April 3-7 Little by Little campaign – Eligible donations up to $50 will be matched at 50% per unique donor per organization. You can donate to CHI and AIL and get match and donate more than $50 but over $50 will not be matched.

 AIL is expanding the reach of its health program and last October its network of clinics increased with 3 basic health centers in the Anjil District of Herat Province. The Department of Public Health fully supported the setting up of these sites. The Khaje Jam basic health center is located in the deprived area of Paghman district and over 40,000 people are covered by this one site.

There is a chronic lack of health care facilities across the country leaving many people with few health care options. One of the advantages of these health sites is they provide educated health worker midwives in villages who aid mothers giving birth during the night.  Many women are unable to travel to a clinic at night due to lack of transport, security issues or clinics not being open in the night.  

These newer sites are part of AIL’s 12 health centers network. The aim is to strengthen the health system in Afghanistan by improving the level of access to basic health care and reduce the mortality rate of mothers and children. One of AIL’s main clinics is 315 Khair Khaneh clinic which is located in the 11^th district of Herat. This site provides and care and health education to 200 people daily and is operated by women doctors and employees. It is one of AIL’s five main clinics. 

Thank you for your support for improved health care and health education in Afghanistan.

Donations to this AIL project get a 50% match from the Safer World Fund.

Only a few thousand in bonus funds still available – so hurry and donate to get a match! 

In August, AIL continued expansion of the workshop and seminar program by visiting both Balkh and Bamyan Provinces. Six teacher training and literacy seminars were held for 344 people including 238 women and 106 men.

There were five 5- day reproductive health workshops for 285 people, some of them teachers. Teachers are crucial at disseminating information to their female pupils about many topics such as women’s health. The girl students then relay what they have learned from their teachers to female relatives. The topics covered included pregnancy, infant care, birth control, hygiene, vaccines and birthing.

One girl said, I have three brothers and two sisters and my father is a worker and my mother is a housewife. We have a basic life because we are poor. My mother’s health is not good. She is so weak because we do not eat healthy foods and our diet is not sufficient. When I participated at this workshop, I did not know anything about my health, the female body and healthy foods. I now know about the first thousand days of life, women health and hygiene, reproduction, healthy foods and unhealthy foods.  I learned that by using inexpensive foods such as vegetables and beans and other things we can make healthy meals for us.”

Thank you for your support for improved health care and health education in Afghanistan.

AIL health staff are highly trained medical professionals. They are also skilled in dealing with conflict, inter-personal matters and family situations. People come to the clinic with beliefs set by their families, traditions or customs, as they often lack the means to educate themselves about medical truths. Here is an example where a doctor showed understanding and patience in dealing with a woman’s lack of knowledge and superstition:

“I participated in the health council of Sar-Asia village. There were many local women there and the community health worker was talking about the types of contraceptive method. One of the women got angry and said contraceptive is considered a sin. The CHS tried to explain to her the benefits but she intended to leave the council. I asked the woman to speak with me for a  few minutes. She was too young and looked worn out.  She had three children close together. I mentioned the malnutrition problems for children whose parents don’t consider child spacing. The woman admitted her children have malnutrition issues. I talked about the other harm done by frequent pregnancy for children and mothers and the benefits of spacing. She changed her mind and selected a contraceptive method in private and was assured that her husband would not have a problem with it.”

Afghan women want to do the right thing to remain healthy and give their children the best nutrition and opportunity in life. What women need is the education to help make the right choices. This is why AIL’s comprehensive health education program is so vital for breaking the cycle of ill health, improving vaccination rates and reducing child malnutrition. Staff are kind, gentle and patient in dealing with people’s concerns and understand that often families and husbands are part of any decision and also need health education to make good choices.  So far in 2022, there have been over 86,000 attendees at health education.

Thank you for your support for improved health care and education in Afghanistan.

The health program has patient treatment at its core but equally important is preventive care and health education. This can be seen in the numbers from the month of January which include:  13,895 patient treatments, 1,564 reproductive patients, 851 contraceptive patients, 47 babies born in clinics, 5,489 vaccinations, 1,973 children assessed for malnutrition and 13,449 health education participants. The Community Health Worker posts in 14 locations visited 1,518 families, treating 257 cases of ARI and 422 cases of diarrhea, 2 home births, 28 pre or post-natal visits.

Patient treatments are equal to health education participant numbers and vaccinations are equal to half.  AIL wants to break the cycle of ill health that plagues families by ensuring they are educated and kept up to date on the latest health concerns. AIL also has workshops on health and in March, a First Aid workshop was held over 30 days for 80 female students at the Yacoobi English Center. The Kabul area held 3 reproductive health workshops for 180 teachers. The teachers will relay what they learned to their female pupils spreading health education to more people.

New Clinic!

AIL now has 12 health facilities: 6 full clinics, 3 reproductive health only and 3 outreach based at centers. We are pleased to report on the official opening in February of a new full clinic at Khoja Jam in the area of Kabul.

The Kabul Health Department had high praise for the quality of AIL’s health program and were delighted that AIL was able to help the local people who are in desperate need of medical help.  In February, the clinic dealt with 1,433 patients, 313 children were assessed for nutrition, 10 were treated, 177 women received contraceptives and 54 had pre or post-natal care, 235 vaccinations were given and 2,304 attended health education. A great start!

Thank you for your support which is needed more than ever. Your donations have enabled life-saving health education and treatment for many poor Afghans.

The 2021 Sakena Fund annual report is attached and we hope you find it interesting.

• Annual_Report_2021_compressed.pdf (PDF)