The extremely high infant mortality rate in Afghanistan is largely due to inadequate access to health care for women and mothers. Women often have to give birth at home without a doctor or with non-skilled birth attendants, which harms the baby's chances at life.
The current infant mortality rate for Afghanistan in 2023 is 44.613 deaths per 1000 live births, a 3.08% decline from 2022. The infant mortality rate for Afghanistan in 2022 was 46.032 deaths per 1000 live births, a 2.99% decline from 2021.
The economy is largely agricultural and half the cultivated land must be irrigated. 85% of the population live in rural areas and another 2.5 million are nomads. The low status of women and female children, low levels of health care, and high fertility contribute to the lower life expectancy of females over males.
A large majority of Afghans, 88%, either delayed, suspended or decided not to seek medical care in 2022 mostly because of Taliban restrictions and poverty, according to MSF. "Sometimes, mothers are so malnourished they can't produce milk," said a medical staff with MSF in Afghanistan.
NCDs are the cause of more than 35% of mortality (2010 Afghanistan Mortality Survey, AMS). In detail, major causes of mortality include cardiovascular disease (women 17.9%, men 14%), cancer (women 8.3%, men 7.3%), diabetes mellitus (women 2.7%, men 3.7%), and respiratory disease (women 2.3%, men 1.9%).
The Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) was launched to serve as the country's poverty reduction strategy. It identifies factors that contribute to poverty such as lack of infrastructure, limited access to markets, social inequity, historical and ongoing conflict, and various productivity constraints.
Ethnic groups in the country include Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbeks as well as smaller groups such as Nuristanis, Aimaq, Turkmen, Baloch and some others which are less known. Together they make up the contemporary Afghan people. 35.8 births/1,000 population (2021 est.) 7.3 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)
There are many reasons for the increased risk of pregnancy complications that lead to maternal death, ranging from women getting pregnant at older ages, to inequities in health care, to a rise in chronic health conditions.
The main reason for this is women in low-income countries are in a lifetime risk of dying from a pregnancy and delivery-related complications. This is true because of poor health service coverage where high risk mothers do not have access to institutional delivery; even if they have access quality of care is poor.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are estimated to contribute to more than 35% of overall mortality. Major causes of mortality due to NCDs are cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes. Communicable diseases still account for more than 60% of all outpatient visits.
This affects their ability to reach their full potential and contributes to the high maternal mortality ratio of 638 per 100,000 live births.
The country also has a longstanding history in literature, with poets such as Reza Mohammadi and Khaled Hosseini. Unfortunately, due to the spread of the Taliban regime and devastating wars, literacy rates in Afghanistan are among the lowest in the world at about 45 percent for men and 17 percent for women.
Children are facing extreme hunger, exploitation and a loss of their education, particularly girls. Girls are almost twice as likely as boys to go to bed hungry and almost 1 in 2 of girls are not attending school, compared to 1 in 5 boys.
The life expectancy for Afghanistan in 2022 was 65.63 years, a 0.52% increase from 2021. The life expectancy for Afghanistan in 2021 was 65.29 years, a 0.52% increase from 2020.
Children in Afghanistan are subjected to the worst forms of child labor, including in armed conflict, forced labor in the production of bricks and carpets, and commercial sexual exploitation.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the three leading causes of mortality in lower-middle-income countries (LMIC) are ischemic heart disease (IHD), stroke, and lower respiratory infections (LRIs), causing 111.8, 68.8, and 51.5 annual deaths per 100,000, respectively.
America has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations–and it's on the rise. Here's why we are facing a pregnancy health crisis. Maternal mortality rates have been rising in recent years. Over the past decade, the U.S. birth rate declined by roughly 20%.
In conclusion, the potential risk factors of maternal mortality include nutritional status, state of anemia, history of illness, age, ANC examination, delivery method, late referral, occupational status, and pregnancy complications, which is specifically the most dominant factor.
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In the decade from 2011 to 2020, there were 194 women reported to have died during pregnancy or within 42 days of the end of pregnancy and a maternal mortality rate of 6.4 deaths per 100,000 women giving birth.
The birth rate for Afghanistan in 2021 was 30.950 births per 1000 people, a 2.01% decline from 2020. The birth rate for Afghanistan in 2020 was 31.586 births per 1000 people, a 1.97% decline from 2019.
According to the Population Reference Bureau, among the countries of the South Asian region, Afghanistan has the highest total fertility rate (an estimated 4.8 children per woman in 2018) [2].
There are 20.43 million males and 19.4 million females in Afghanistan. The percentage of female population is 48.7% compare to 51.3% male population. Afghanistan has 1.03 million more males than females. Afghanistan is at 184th position out of 201 countries/territories in terms of female to male ratio.