Health Law, Policy & Ethics Seminar Series

Preventable maternal mortality in Afghanistan: Trends, lessons and recommendations

This presentation will discuss recent peer-reviewed studies and institutional reports on maternal mortality following the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 and compares emerging patterns with the first Taliban period (1996–2001), when maternal mortality reached some of the highest levels recorded in conflict settings.

Multiple data sources indicate worsening conditions after 2021, including sharp reductions in service utilization following funding interruptions, reported declines in access to antenatal and intrapartum care, and clinician-reported increases in delays and life-threatening obstetric complications. Gender-based restrictions on women's and girls' education, employment, and movement directly affect demand-side access and supply-side staffing capacity for maternal care, offending Afghanistan's obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The presentation is based on a paper by Mohammad S. Razai, Seyed Aria Nejadghaderi, Soghra Khaliqi, Ghizal Haress, and Rebecca J. Cook, published in the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics.

Read the article: https://doi.org/10.1002/ijgo.71049