Handicap International experience in Afghanistan - CBM
Handicap International experience in Afghanistan - CBM
Handicap International experience in Afghanistan - CBM
- No tags were found...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Health ServicesThis section presents the f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs with regard to the access and use of health services. Questions were askedregard<strong>in</strong>g the access, expenditure and barriers faced with<strong>in</strong> the exist<strong>in</strong>g facilities. Figure 16 reports theresponses of persons with disability and the non-disabled accord<strong>in</strong>g to the two ma<strong>in</strong> types of health servicesavailable. The results show that the persons with disability and non-disabled have similar responses:• 51% persons with disability and 54.3% non-disabled report hav<strong>in</strong>g a health centre available;• 68.3% and 67.1% respectively report hav<strong>in</strong>g a private cl<strong>in</strong>ic or doctor available;• 32.4% and 30.5% respectively report hav<strong>in</strong>g a hospital available.Figure 16. Types of Health Services Available Accord<strong>in</strong>g toPersons with and without Disability60• Persons with Disability • Non-Disabled50403020100Health Centre Hospital Pharmacy/ChemistPhysiotherapy and/orOrthopaedic CentreFemale HealthProfessional AvailableIf we consider the frequency of use of services <strong>in</strong> the year preced<strong>in</strong>g the survey, a high percentage of nondisabledpersons (31.2%) have been to health facilities only once. The majority (52.5%) of persons withdisability went to the health facility at least twice dur<strong>in</strong>g the one year period considered. There are threema<strong>in</strong> hypotheses expla<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g this result, the first be<strong>in</strong>g that persons with disabilities undergo ailments morefrequently than the non-disabled, requir<strong>in</strong>g that they go to a health facility for treatment more often. Thesecond is that they hope to f<strong>in</strong>d some new treatment for their impairment. Thirdly, persons with disabilitiesreturn to the facilities multiple times due to the need to repeat treatment. Regardless of the reasons, personswith disabilities visit facilities more frequently than those without disability.Lastly, the NDSA analysis shows that persons with mental disability and those hav<strong>in</strong>g epilepsy/seizureproblems use traditional cures (bone-setter, mullah, religious persons…) more often, hop<strong>in</strong>g to f<strong>in</strong>d a curefor their problems. 26.1% persons with disability used traditional and religious cure <strong>in</strong> the past year. Of thosewho used a traditional or religious cure, 65.7% visited a mullah, while 25.7% went on a pilgrimage or dida special prayer.Barriers to Access<strong>in</strong>g Health Care and ServicesThe health system is under reconstruction <strong>in</strong> <strong>Afghanistan</strong>. Considerable efforts have been made s<strong>in</strong>ce 2002to provide access to facilities <strong>in</strong> the entire territory. Nevertheless, many gaps rema<strong>in</strong>, especially for treatmentof disability: lack of tra<strong>in</strong>ed medical staff is a major challenge for public planners. This section gives a quickoverview of difficulties l<strong>in</strong>ked to health services. For a more <strong>in</strong>-depth analysis, one can refer to the surveycarried out by the M<strong>in</strong>istry of Public Health and Johns Hopk<strong>in</strong>s University Third Party Evaluation Team 25 .Persons withdisabilitiesundergo ailmentsmore frequentlythan the nondisabled,requir<strong>in</strong>g thatthey go to ahealth facility fortreatment moreoften25See MINISTRY OF PUBLIC HEALTH and JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY (2005), Report on Health Seek<strong>in</strong>g Behaviour, HealthExpenditures, and Cost Shar<strong>in</strong>g Practices <strong>in</strong> <strong>Afghanistan</strong>, Kabul, 60 pp.The Health Picture27