Save Afghan Women & Children with Health Care

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)
  

***There are only a few days left to donate in 2021! We would love your support for our projects. Thank you!***

AIL’s health program is continuing to receive a high volume of patients due to the Covid pandemic and the economic and political situation in Afghanistan.  Many people have been displaced from their homes and have come into the cities of Herat and Kabul. Local people have directed many of them to AIL facilities for health care. The clinics are therefore dealing with their usual patient load and Internally Displaced Persons as well.

We are seeing a sharp increase in the number of malnourished children, injuries and disease and illness caused by dirty water and lack of hygiene. There is also the effects of mass trauma in people. There is an acute shortage of supplies and medicines and Covid vaccines.

Despite all the difficulties of the last months AIL staff have performed admirably adapting their facilities and procedures to deal with new challenges. They have continued with their usual programs such as vaccinations, reproductive health and nutrition with many hours of health education given. Our health education program is vital to breaking the cycle of ill health and all clinic attendees receive education. Our 2022 plan includes, twelve  5- day reproductive health workshops with 30 women in each (total 360).

Clinic staff person"

AIL’s health program is continuing to receive a high volume of patients due to the Covid pandemic and the economic and political situation in Afghanistan. Many people have been displaced from their homes and have come into the cities of Herat and Kabul. Local people have directed many of them to AIL facilities for health care. The clinics are therefore dealing with their usual patient load and Internally Displaced Persons as well.

We are seeing a sharp increase in the number of malnourished children, injuries and disease and illness caused by dirty water and lack of hygiene. There is also the effects of mass trauma in people. There is an acute shortage of supplies and medicines and Covid vaccines.

Despite all the difficulties of the last months AIL staff have performed admirably adapting their facilities and procedures to deal with new challenges. They have continued with their usual programs such as vaccinations, reproductive health and nutrition with many hours of health education given. Our health education program is vital to breaking the cycle of ill health and all clinic attendees receive education. Our 2022 plan includes, twelve five- day reproductive health workshops with 30 women in each (total 360).

Clinic staff person:“Polio is a dangerous disease but unfortunately many mothers in Afghanistan still don’t know how to prevent it. We offer advice to our visitors and patients about it. I told one patient about polio and explained the benefits of vaccination. Her children were unvaccinated and the next day she returned to the clinic with her children and with the next door neighbor’s children. All of them received vaccinations and the mother was grateful for the health information and is eager to learn more about how to prevent disease and illness.” 

AIL Outreach 2021:23,905 students, 18,132 PPE distributed, 6 health clinics, 50-bed Covid-19 hospital, 95,593 patient treatments, 59,888 health education, 13,050 food aid families served, 22 radio broadcasts daily, 8 hours of TV programs, 12 provinces reached. 

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.

Recent Developments in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has been stunned by recent developments and people are adapting as best they can, to a new situation which remains both unclear and uncertain as to the future.  AIL’s current priority is to provide urgently needed assistance to the thousands of displaced families who have flooded into Kabul and Herat. Our clinics have expanded their capacity to cope with the large numbers of refugees that are in the area. We face increasing treatments for malnutrition. Food insecurity has been a problem all year, the drought that hit Afghanistan impacted the entire country. Instability and the limits on port access and trade routes means food that comes in is very expensive. Child malnutrition is increasing. We can treat this, but the only solution is more food. We must have access to more foods to distribute to families that come showing the effects of starvation.

We have been touched by the outreach of support and outpouring of donations to help the Afghan people. We thank you for standing by Afghanistan as it faces another humanitarian crisis on top of Covid-19 and drought.

Clinics update so far in 2021

Our clinics are operating in very difficult circumstances and continue to provide vital healthcare both treatment and preventative as well as reproductive health care to poor Afghan women. The clinics have been inundated in recent weeks with refugees fleeing the violence of the civil war in the country.

In the first half of the year, the clinics have provided 110,361 treatments and health education to 74,862.  Reproductive health services were provided to 7,696 women and 342 babies were delivered at clinics.  Over 33,000 people have been vaccinated this year and over 16,000 children have been assessed for nutritional status with 873 receiving treatment for malnutrition.  The Community Health Worker program visited over 12,000 families and treated 2,539 cases of ARI and 886 cases of diarrhea. Covid-19 has restricted the health workshop program but one workshop on reproductive health was held for 35 women in Kabul.

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.