Building strong relationships and trust between community health workers and the communities they serve prior to public health emergencies can help ensure continuity of health seeking behaviors during times of crisis. When health services dropped during COVID19 lockdowns, women community health workers increased services 25%.

Context

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Afghan women and girls of reproductive age faced significant risks to their health. An estimated 638 women died per 100,000 live births each year, around 40% of pregnant women lacked adequate ante-natal care, and skilled birth attendants were only present for about half of all deliveries.i,ii To increase access to maternal and primary health care, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health has rolled out a Basic Package of Health Services in rural communities. Urban areas are not covered by this package however, and have largely been left out of governmental and humanitarian healthcare initiatives. Most cities do have hospitals and private health clinics, but urban communities are often more complex in their social structure which can impede access to and affordability of their services.