UNFPA says 5 million women and girls in Afghanistan received health support
More than 5 million women and girls in Afghanistan have received health and psychosocial support with backing from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Kingdom, the agency said on Tuesday.
UNFPA said the assistance was delivered across all 34 provinces between 2023 and 2026, helping women and girls access maternal care, reproductive health services and mental health support in a country where the health system remains under heavy strain.
The support comes as Afghan women and girls continue to face major obstacles in reaching care, especially in rural and conservative areas where long travel distances, funding shortages and restrictions on women’s mobility have sharply limited access.
In remote districts, pregnant women often have to travel for hours to reach clinics or midwives, increasing the risk of preventable complications during pregnancy and childbirth. UNFPA has repeatedly warned that Afghanistan remains one of the world’s most dangerous places to give birth.
The update comes after U.N. experts, including Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett, warned that discriminatory policies in Afghanistan have deepened barriers for women and girls seeking essential healthcare and protection services.
UNFPA says it reached over 4 million people in Afghanistan with reproductive, maternal and related health services in 2024 alone, while millions more accessed support through mobile teams and static health facilities.
Aid agencies have warned that continued funding gaps could leave millions of Afghan women and girls without life-saving services in the coming year, particularly in hard-to-reach and crisis-affected areas.
Despite the scale of the support, humanitarian agencies say Afghan women and girls remain among the most vulnerable in the world unless access to safe, timely and affordable healthcare improves.
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