Under the reign of the Taliban, health care access in Afghanistan was very limited. Afghans who did have access were forced to walk for hours to see a nurse. Most medical professionals immigrated to other countries during those years.
Today, with the freedom to educate both boys and girls, the health care system is slowly turning around. Unfortunately, women still have very limited access to health care since only 2% of Afghan physicians are female. Although there are now over 150 government hospitals in Afghanistan many patients still need to travel to India and Pakistan, spending millions annually for quality medical care. There is still a huge need to train qualified men and women who will then train others to develop the health care system in Afghanistan.
Morning Star’s Hope Family Medicine Afghanistan, a three-year residency program in Kabul, trains men and women to become certified Family Medicine Specialists. To date, 32 doctors have been trained through this program and some are now training others to do the same.
