A report issued today by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) shows that more than 50 percent of pregnant women in Afghanistan do not have access to essential health services and more than 50 percent of the births take place without nursing facilities.

 On Monday, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) launched a two day conference under the theme ‘National Maternal and Newborn Health Conference’ in Kabul with the participation of its international partners and health agencies to find ways on how to reduce the level of mortality among mother and child.

 The report shows that the rate of mortality among mothers is still on the rise; however, the mortality rate of children has dropped.

The report states that from every one thousand children, 55 of them die before the age of five.

 Based on the report, from each one hundred thousand births, six to seven hundred mothers lose their lives.

 Referring to the report, the Minister of Public Health Ferozuddin Feroz said that the figure is shocking and there is need to reduce the numbers.

 “Despite the fact that the survey shows a variety of developments and changes, but still the index of mortality among mothers is quite high, it is unacceptable,” said Feroz.

Meanwhile, the acting head of reproductive health at the ministry of public health Zulaikha Anwari said that the quality of health services in the country is very low and also the health distribution programs are unbalanced in the country.

 “However investments have been conducted on the health services, but the commitment of the health workers, quality of health is not satisfactory for us due to the lack of budget and resources,” she said.

 “40 percent of mothers are suffering from anemia, 95 percent of mothers are lacking vitamin D while another one percent of mothers lack of iodine, these are among the items which we need to focus on before and after births,” said Attaullah Sayedzai, MoPH.

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) is also working on a five year plan for family planning and gaps between births in cooperation with the international organizations and donor countries.