Achieving maternal and child health gains in Afghanistan: a Countdown to 2015 country case study

Publication date: June 2016 Source:The Lancet Global Health, Volume 4, Issue 6 Author(s): Nadia Akseer, Ahmad S Salehi, S M Moazzem Hossain, M Taufiq Mashal, M Hafiz Rasooly, Zaid Bhatti, Arjumand Rizvi, Zulfiqar A Bhutta Background After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan experienced a tumultuous period of democracy overshadowed by conflict, widespread insurgency, and an inflow of development assistance. Although there have been several cross-sectional assessments of health gains over the last decade, there has been no systematic analysis of progress and factors influencing maternal and child health in Afghanistan. Methods We undertook a comprehensive, systematic assessment of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health in Afghanistan over the last decade. Given the paucity of high-quality data before 2001, we relied mainly on 11 nationally representative surveys conducted between 2003 and 2013. We estimated national and subnational time trends for key reproductive, maternal, and child health indicators, and used linear regression methods to determine predictors of change in health-care service use. All analyses were weighted for sampling and design effects. Additional information was collated and analysed about health system performance from third party surveys and about human resources from the Afghan Ministry of Public Health. Findings Between 2003 and 2015, Afghanistan experienced a 29% decline in mortality of children younger than...
Source: The Lancet Global Health - Category: Global & Universal Source Type: research