Afghanistan: Close Ties between Health Centers and Community Promote Health in Panjshir Province

ROKHA DISTRICT, Panjshir Province – The boiling water, spilled while making the morning tea, burnt Homira’s foot so badly that her husband had to rush her to the hospital. Two female nurses are busy treating her in the emergency section of Rokha District Hospital (DH). She lies on the bed, her face in pain, groaning softly. A doctor gives her an injection to reduce her pain.

“We come here any time there is an illness or an emergency,” says Homira, 42, as she leaves the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after receiving treatment.  She seems happy as she limps down the hall. “When we come to the hospital the doctors and nurses treat us very well and the services are good,” adds Homira, a mother of four.

Inside the hall there are many men and women waiting their turn to be examined by the doctor. Abdul Saeed, 35, is with his wife, who has come for an antenatal examination. He talks about the quality of medicine they have received from the hospital and how it has helped them to get well quickly. “The doctors and the hospital are meeting most of our needs,” he says. “We are thankful for the free, high quality medicine, since the price is too high in the market and we cannot afford it.”

Saeed, who is from Dara Abshar district, is at the Rokha DH because of the public awareness campaigns conducted by voluntary Community Health Workers (CHWs). “I found out about the benefits of coming to the healthcare center six years ago, and now I bring my wife to Rokha DH to the midwifery section,” he says. 

Rokha DH is a 40-bed hospital in the Rokha district of Panjshir Province. It is one of the 20 health centers across the province covered by the System Enhancement for Health Action in Transition (SEHAT) Program. Under SEHAT, health centers work closely with CHWs and Health Community Councils (HCCs).

In Panjshir Province, there are 140 health posts, each of which teams up with two CHWs, a woman and a man. The CHWs conduct public awareness campaigns in the villages and occasionally provide medicine to locals, though their main purpose is to refer villagers to the health centers.

“The CHWs are playing a great role in the villages,” says Dr. Abdul Samad, 58, head of Rokha DH. “They go to people’s houses, especially those who are poor and don’t know much about healthcare, and provide them information. This is vital work that cannot be done in the health centers.”