Afghan Health and Development Services AHDS

The project contributes both to the global and specific objectives of European Commission “provision of BPHS and EPHS in 10 provinces of Afghanistan”. 

AHDS is implementing BPHS in Urozgan Province that is funded by European Commission and Cordaid. In 19 months time activities will be implemented in all districts (Tirinkot, Dehrawud, Chora, Charcheeno, Chenartoo, Khas Urozgan and Gizab), reaching out to ‘hard to reach’ areas, with a population of 386,100 people. Through its focus on vulnerable groups (e.g. Kochi, prisoners, women and children) and on remote and underserved rural areas, access to BPHS will be increased. Activities will be implemented in all the seven districts of Urozgan. The action includes expansion of services, quality improvement through capacity building, supportive supervision and retention schemes, and community health activities to enhance healthy practices and community ownershiin particular the MOPH at national and provincial levels other stakeholders. Strong coordination between all agencies active in health in the province is required to develop a comprehensive approach to improve the health status of the population in Urozgan.

 

BPHS services will be continued in the 7 districts, through the 7 CHCs, 9 BHCs, 3 Health Sub-centre (HSC) and 2 mobile health teams (MHT). The number of health posts will increase to 265 (with 200 female and 270 male CHWs). Maintaining and upgrading the existing facilities remains a major priority.

Kandahar Institute of Health Sciences (KIHS) as training institute provides newly trained health personnel to the health services in the region (at least Kandahar, Urozgan, Helmand and Zabul provinces, with a population of nearly 3 million people). AHDS is managing KIHS in partnership with MoPH since Sept 2004. Trainings are competency based. National Standard curricula are developed for midwife and nursing educations. The institute is funded by Cordaid.

The goal is to enhance the academic quality and operations in order to serve the people of Afghanistan by creating an atmosphere of excellence that prepares health care providers to meet the needs of the country for quality nursing, midwifery and allied health personnel.

The KHIS concentrates on two areas: training of midwives (2 years education) and training of nurses (3 years education). The intake will be 20-35 students per year for each school.

In order to enhance the education of women, KIHS will organize accelerated education programs, for girls who do not have sufficient basic education to follow the paramedical training successfully. 15 girls will be admitted per year.

In addition, a Community Midwifery Education (CME) is established to train the students who have lower educational background and are not willing to travel to Kandahar. This is also funded by Cordaid. The students are nominated by the local community Shuras and are committed to serve their own communities.

Accreditation:

Accreditation is done by the Nursing and Midwifery Education Accreditation Board which is an independent body in Afghanistan.

AHDS runs a Provincial Hospital in Tirinkot Town of Urozgan Province, with financial support of European Commission and Cordaid. It provides the essential package of hospital services (EPHS) to serve the province with a population of 386,100 people. The action includes expansion of services, quality improvement through capacity building, supportive supervision and retention schemes, and community activities to enhance healthy practices and community ownershiespecially women and children. Equitable access to quality health services is a first priority. The proposed action seeks to expand the coverage of hospital services by improving the quality of care and strengthening the referral system. Expansion of services will go hand in hand with improved quality of care. The consortium seeks to improve staffing levels, especially of specialists and female staff, in order to effectively address the needs of the population in a professional and culturally acceptable manner.

The services include:

·          General surgical services
 

 

·          General obstetric and gynecology
 

 

·          General pediatric services (including therapeutic feeding)
 

 

·          General medical services
 

 

·          Mental health program
 

 

·          HIV/AIDS; Strengthen VCCT
 

 

·          TB control program
 

 

·          Outpatient services
 

 

·          Inpatient services
 

 

·          Emergency department
 

 

·          Hospital pharmacy
 

 

·          Basic laboratory, blood transfusion services, and blood bank
 

 

·          Basic x-ray and ultrasound services
 

 

·          Physiotherapy services
 

 

·          Emergency preparedness
 

 

·          Health care for prison inmates

·          Referral system
 

 

·          Ambulance and community transportation

·          Mortuary

·          Support services (central sterile supply, medical records, kitchen, laundry and tailor, waste management and cleaning services, maintenance of building, equipment, vehicles and transportation)

To reduce mortality and morbidity of most vulnerable groups of people by improving their nutritional status and encouraging them to seek health services from the health facilities. The target group is under five children (125,600) and pregnant women and lactating mothers (56,519) in Kandahar and Urozgan province. The programs are funded by European Commission and Cordaid as well as in-kind contribution of UNICEF and WFP.

The main activities are:

Public awareness on nutrition issues
Breast feeding and IYCF: awareness raising and counseling on healthy infant and young child feeding practices (IYCF)
Participatory food preparation sessions (with mothers)
Micronutrient supplementation
Promote use of iodized salt
Outpatient Therapeutic Program (OTP)
Inpatient Care / Stabilization Centre (SC) or Therapeutic Feeding Unit (TFU)
Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP)
Effective nutritional surveillance and monitoring