Afghanistan

Our work there at a glance:
  • Hospital construction
  • Support for a dialysis ward in Herat
  • Nurse training programme
  • Tutoring project
Teaching in the midwifery and nursing classes.

Afghanistan

Our work there at a glance:
  • Hospital construction
  • Construction and supervision of a dialysis ward
  • Bau und Ãœberwachung einer Dialysestation
  • Tutoring project

Our goal

Improving medical care - especially in rural areas.

Cap Anamur is continuously working to improve medical care in Afghanistan – especially in rural areas. In addition to building hospitals and setting up a dialysis station, our measures also include training programmes for the local population, for example to become nurses or midwives.

Latest news

Project reports

View all project reports

Key health data

Life expectancy

50/49 years

(women/men)

Infant mortality

113

per 1,000 births

Doctors

0,3

per 1,000 inhabitants

Cap Anamur engagement in Afghanistan

1987 - 19892001 – heute

The situation in Afghanistan

Political situation

For decades, Afghanistan has been a country with a complex security situation in which rival militia groups try to use the unclear power structures in the country’s 34 provinces for themselves, while the government’s sphere of influence usually does not extend beyond the capital Kabul. With the official end of the Afghanistan mission and the withdrawal of the USA and international troops, the situation in the country remains critical. The Taliban took power in the summer of 2021 and formed a government.

Social situation.

The situation of the civilian population in Afghanistan is persistently problematic. Many people flee war, violence and a lack of prospects. The result is an exodus of skilled workers and academics who could have made a major contribution to the social and infrastructural development of the country. Large parts of the country are chronically underserved in terms of medical care, and rural regions in particular lack doctors, midwives and health facilities. The long journeys to the few hospitals are not only dangerous for the rural population, but also expensive and hardly manageable for seriously ill or heavily pregnant women.

Patients wait for treatment at the small clinic (Comprehensive Health Center) in Now Abad.
Patients wait for treatment at the small clinic (Comprehensive Health Center) in Now Abad.

Cap Anamur builds clinics to sustainably improve health care in Afghanistan. With training programmes, locals are trained to become skilled workers, especially women.

Children playing in the village of Shade. Cap Anamur built a small hospital to provide medical care for 45,000 people in the Shade region.

Our engagement in Afghanistan

Training program for nurse practitioner

Nurse training programme and tutoring programme for children from low-income families

Cap Anamur offers a three-year training programme for nurses, which is aimed at participants from rural regions who commit themselves to returning to their home villages for a certain period of time after the training in order to improve medical care there.

Previously, we had offered two training programmes for midwives and community health nurses over many years, with a total of over 200 graduates already working in rural areas.

The new Taliban government makes our work even more difficult. Girls and women in particular have their access to education restricted. Currently, girls are only allowed to attend public schools up to grade 6, i.e. until the age of 12. Our tutoring project is directly affected by the Taliban’s hostility towards women and education. At the moment we are only allowed to teach boys.

Teaching midwifery and nursing classes. Hands-on obstetrics education with mannequins.
Teaching midwifery and nursing classes. Hands-on obstetrics education with mannequins.
Cap Anamur built a small hospital to provide medical care for 45,000 people in the Shade region. The hospital is already considered a model example of the CHC (Comprehensive Health Centre) form. Tour of the CHC with Ms Tahiri, Member of Parliament (left) and Cap Anamur Managing Director Bernd Göken (centre).

Hospital construction

Hospital construction

In order to increase the number of medical facilities and the range of treatment in the country, we are building hospitals and handing them over to state hands after three years of operation. In the meantime, we have already built six full-fledged clinics.

We also support one of the few dialysis units in the country, which performs about 2,100 dialyses per year with our help.

Establishment and supervision of a dialysis unit

Establishment and supervision of a dialysis unit

In the provincial hospital of Herat, Afghanistan’s second largest city, Cap Anamur supports the only state-run dialysis centre by providing financial resources and technical equipment.

Since 2016, this has enabled us to provide vital treatment especially to people who cannot afford the cost-intensive dialysis procedure. At the beginning of 2021, we were also able to send two more dialysis machines, a donation from Münster University Hospital, to Afghanistan and perform even more life-saving dialyses in the future. In 2020, the dialysis unit we support in Herat performed a total of 3895 dialyses, on 1245 patients, including 56 children and 424 women.

Teaching midwifery and nursing classes. Hands-on obstetrics education with mannequins.
Teaching midwifery and nursing classes. Hands-on obstetrics education with mannequins.

Success in numbers

over 200 graduates

Midwives and Community Health Nurses already working in rural areas.

6 full-fledged clinics

built and already handed over into state hands.

3,895 Dialyses

funded in 2020.

What happens next

Events in the wake of the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s seizure of power in the summer of 2021 are changing the country. Our work is also affected by this change, but still continues. Our long-time project leader Faisal Haidari describes it this way: “The work goes on – under much more difficult and insecure conditions and we are worried about the future of the country.”

The measures taken by the Taliban so far mainly affect girls and women in the country, whose access to education and equal rights is once again severely restricted. In cooperation with our local contacts from government and administration, we try to continue our projects in the best possible way, they are urgently needed.

Students from the Cap Anamur project at work in the small clinic (CHC) in Now Abad.
Students from the Cap Anamur project at work in the small clinic (CHC) in Now Abad.