Attachments
REPORTED INCIDENTS AND MOST COMMONLY REPORTED CONCERNS
81
REPORTED INCIDENTS
31
HEALTH WORKERS ARRESTED OR DETAINED FOR QUESTIONING
26
HEALTH WORKERS KILLED
OVERVIEW
The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC) identified 81 incidents of violence against or obstruction of health care in Afghanistan in 2022, compared to 107 in 2021. At least 31 health workers were arrested and 26 killed in these incidents, undermining health care providers’ ability to maintain safe staffing levels to effectively meet patient needs. This factsheet is based on the dataset 2022 SHCC Health Care Afghanistan Data, which is available for download on the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX).
THE CONTEXT
Political violence persisted in Afghanistan in 2022, especially in the northeast between the Taliban, on the one hand, and either the so-called Islamic State (IS) or the Afghan National Resistance Front (ANRF), on the other, after the conflict between the Taliban and the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) ended in mid-August 2021. Simultaneously, the Taliban took over governance of the country. Before the Taliban takeover, international development assistance accounted for 75% of Afghanistan’s public expenditure, including the maintenance of the public health system. However, the Taliban’s accession to power led international donors to suspend such assistance and impose sanctions on the new regime. This, coupled with drought and a 5.9 magnitude earthquake in June, created a humanitarian crisis. By the end of 2022, 28.3 million people in Afghanistan needed humanitarian assistance.
Restrictions imposed on females exacerbated the crisis. Since December 2021, women have been required to be accompanied by a ‘mahram’ or male chaperone when attending health facilities. In late December 2022, the female employees of over 180 local and international NGOs were banned from working. Although the Taliban gave assurances in January 2023 that women working on health programs were exempt, uncertainty persists for health care providers, because reports suggest that the policy has been implemented inconsistently. The extension in January 2023 of policies stipulating that doctors should only treat patients of their own sex creates additional barriers to health care.