This article was originally published in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Read the original article. 

By Safiullah Stanikzai

When Kubra went into labor, the 22-year-old was already suffering from anemia and malnutrition. She experienced severe blood loss during childbirth. Doctors tried to save her with a blood transfusion, but she fell into a coma and died. Her baby did not survive either.

“Her husband was poor. The doctors always told him to buy fruit so she could eat nutritious food. He couldn't even afford medicine, let alone fruit,” Kubra's sister, who asked not to be named, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.

Kubra is among the thousands of women who die during childbirth every year in Afghanistan, which has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.

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At least 521 mothers died for every 100,000 births, according to the latest UN estimate published in 2023. No official figures are available for 2024 or 2025. The real number could be even higher as some cases go unreported, especially in remote areas.

The UN has said many of the deaths were due to preventable pregnancy complications exacerbated by severe shortages in qualified birth attendants and an under-resourced health-care system.

The public health system in Afghanistan, which was largely funded by foreign aid for nearly two decades, has been in freefall since the Taliban seized power in 2021 and international donors cut financial funding.

Exacerbating the situation, the Taliban has banned women from attending university and closed private schools that offered courses on midwifery and nursing. The hard-line group has also severely restricted women’s job opportunities, including in the health sector.

Access To Care Deteriorates

For women in remote areas, reaching health care is difficult, with some having to travel for hours to reach a facility. Many are forced to give birth at home.

Nabila, who lives in the northern province of Parwan, said her mother died during a home birth. Her baby also died.

“Under the Taliban, these problems have become much worse,” Nabila, who only gave her first name, told Radio Azadi. “The reasons are repeated pregnancies, poor economic conditions, and the fact that she gave birth at home.”

For women who do reach a health facility, complications such as postpartum hemorrhage can become life-threatening within minutes, particularly when blood supplies, trained personnel, or emergency obstetric care are limited, according to obstetricians.

The Taliban takeover exacerbated a devastating humanitarian and economic crisis, pushing millions of people into extreme poverty. About 45 percent of Afghanistan’s 40 million population need humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.

Only one in four pregnant women in Afghanistan receives the recommended four or more antenatal-care visits, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

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The agency says 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are projected to be acutely malnourished in 2026, putting both mothers and babies at greater risk.

Future More Uncertain

While some foreign aid organizations continue to operate in Afghanistan, many of them have been forced to curb their work as international funding diminishes.

To make matters worse, the Taliban has banned women from attending medical institutes that offered classes in midwifery, nursing, dental hygiene, and laboratory science.

Yasamin, who was in medical school when the Taliban banned women from university, enrolled in a private midwifery program to continue her education.

“Our hope was that we could graduate in [midwifery] and serve our country,” she told Radio Azadi. “Now that this has also been closed to us, all our hopes have been destroyed.”

The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said Afghanistan could lose up to 5,400 female health workers by 2030 because of restrictions on girls' education and women's employment.

Taliban Downplays Maternal Deaths

The Taliban government has claimed that access to health care has improved since it returned to power and blamed some maternal deaths on women failing to seek prenatal care.

Sharafat Zaman, a spokesman for the Taliban's Public Health Ministry, claimed that about 200 mothers died during childbirth last year.

“Our goal is to save every one of them, but unfortunately there are still challenges. One of these is that women need regular checkups during pregnancy and must consistently visit health-care centers so both the baby and the mother's health can be monitored,” he told Radio Azadi.

Zaman did not address the Taliban policies that have impeded women’s access to health care.

Copyright (c)2025 RFE/RL, Inc. Used with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

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