Afghan President Praises Progress in Health Service

Nov 05, 08:29 AM

Current Headlines: President Karzai has praised the efforts of the minister of public health and personnel of the ministry in reducing the mortality rate of children under the age of five by 25 per cent. He was speaking during a meeting at the ministry to celebrate its achievements. the following is the text of a report by state-owned National Afghanistan TV on 4 November.

[Presenter] Hamed Karzai, president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, has praised the efforts of the Afghan Public Health Ministry and international organization in reducing the child mortality rate by 25 per cent.

Addressing a gathering at the hall of the Public Health Ministry, Sayd Mohammad Amin Fatemi, the minister of public health, thanked the president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for his participation in the official ceremony held to mark the great achievements of the people of Afghanistan in health fields.

He said the president's participation was effective in improving the health condition of the people of Afghanistan in general, and was a sign of further attention to improvement of physical, mental, health, and social condition of the children in the country, in particular.

The minister of public health explained the objectives and value of today's ceremony, adding that it was a great pleasure for Public Health Ministry workers and international organization to see that, as a result of their efforts, the mortality rate of children under five has decreased by 25 per cent.

Academic and impartial studies by the John Hopkins University has confirmed this great humanitarian achievement.

He said the health achievements have been gained as a result of the special attention of the president, the presence of an effective mechanism, and coordination with other organizations.

The minister of public health added: We can now offer health services and address the health problems of 85 of 100 people.

The fact that we have managed to provide 85 per cent of the population with basic health services in the past five years is a good achievement. It is something that a large number of compatriots were not able to achieve because of economic problems.

Fatemi added: Health services were unbalanced and unjust in the country five years ago, but fortunately now 85 per cent of the country's population receive health services in a balanced way.

In view of cultural restrictions, our people take female patients to female health workers for check up and we have therefore trained more than 2000 female health workers, and 619 midwives are undergoing 18-month health courses in health training centres in 26 provinces of Afghanistan.

Fatemi said: In addition to this, 18,000 female health workers have been trained in the villages. As a result of these achievements, more than 89,000 children were saved last year, but we still unfortunately have an annual child mortality rate of 250,000. We hope we can address this problem with coordinated efforts and address all other health problems of the people of Afghanistan by establishing more health centres.

Hamed Karzai praised the efforts by the minister of public health and personnel of that ministry, and the efforts by international organizations in reducing the mortality rate of children under five years by 25 per cent. He reiterated the need for more serious activities in this regard.

He added: Efforts in improving the condition of children over the past six years, especially in the past two years, and the provision of health services to 85 per cent of the country's population have given us good messages.

Hamed Karzai added: Some years back, Afghanistan, due to lack of medicines, could not save its children from diseases, pain and death. But, with the grace of God, Afghanistan, with its health services in the past years, managed to reduce the child mortality rate by 25 per cent.

We have held this gathering to thank God for the blessing he has bestowed us.

Karzai added: With all these achievements, we still have a long way ahead. More than 250,000 children of Afghanistan are still threatened by death every year. We should all try to provide every resident and child of this country a better life and better health services.

Saving children will further help Afghanistan's development.

The president granted certificates of appreciation to five workers of international health organizations, who have been working with the Public Health Ministry workers in protecting the health of Afghan children.

Senate Speaker Sebghatollah Mojaddedi, the ministers of foreign affairs and agriculture, and a number of ambassadors and foreign core diplomatic representatives in Kabul also attended the gathering.

Originally published by National Afghanistan TV, Kabul, in Dari 1430 4 Nov 07.

(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring South Asia. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.