Country Profile: Afghanistan Community Health Programs

The Ministry of Public Health's (MoPH) CBHC Department supervises the program, overseeing and supporting implementation, further development, and improvement of CBHC programs. The program operates across Afghanistan in peri-urban and rural areas, with a focus on expanding services to 90% of the population, currently covering 66% of the population. The CBHC program is an integral component of MoPH's Basic Primary Health Services (BPHS) package, which identifies essential, cost-effective, and high-impact interventions and services for all levels of the primary health care system, including the community-level. The program aims to reduce mortality and morbidity rates, particularly targeting mothers and children, by providing evidence-based health care in communities and promoting health lifestyles through community engagement and empowerment. Community health workers (CHWs) are the backbone of the CBHC program, delivering a standard package of primary health services at the community level. The BPHS framework defines services to be provided by the CHWs through the CBHC program, including essential health care interventions such as maternal and child health services, family planning, and disease prevention and control. The service package is intended to be delivered by all CHWs, with a focus on reducing mortality and morbidity rates, particularly targeting mothers and children. The CBHC program operates in 34 provinces, with 3 provinces supervised by the MoPH and 31 provinces implemented by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The program is scaling up to expand services to 90% of the population, with a focus on training an additional 10,000 CHWs over two years to areas not covered by a BPHS facility or a health post. Additionally, a new community-level service delivery mode called Family Health Houses, staffed by Community Midwives, is currently being piloted to bring skilled service delivery staff and well-equipped health posts to rural areas currently served by the CBHC program. The CBHC program has a strong focus on community engagement and empowerment, with CHWs playing a critical role in promoting health lifestyles and providing evidence-based health care in communities. The program is an essential component of Afghanistan's health service delivery system, providing essential health care interventions to communities across the country.