Currently, the country has just over 2,000 female healthcare professionals, according to official government figures, serving the countrys more than 18 million women. And many of these workers, according to the World Health Organization, are concentrated in Afghanistans urban centers.
Because Sediqas husband insisted that she would not be checked by male doctors, her brother was compelled to consult a doctor over the phone. She was prescribed some paracetamol and, after 27 days, started to feel a little better.
In Sharifas case, seeing a doctor was simply out of the question. Now 50 years old, Sharifa hasnt seen a male doctor since she married 35 years ago, when she was 15.
When my husband gets sick, I do anything I can, she said. I take him to the doctor, I talk to his male doctors. But when I get sick, I am not allowed to see a male doctor. I delivered my two boys at home.
If a woman does end up seeing a doctor, and the situation gets to a point where she is hospitalized, another female relative is expected to stay with her at the hospital, Ms. Dalil said, creating yet another wrinkle in a complex situation.
Add to all of this the cost of health care, which is unaffordable for many Afghans, and a volatile environment in which health care facilities are frequently bombed or attacked by insurgents, and the chances of a woman actually receiving adequate care become increasingly slim, Ms. Dalil explained.read more
Data Shows Fewer Afghan Women Than Men Get Covid. That’s Bad News.
