AFGHANISTAN

Poor Sanitation Causes Death among Children under Five in Afghanistan

March 14, 2008

 

Every day, 600 children in Afghanistan die of preventable diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, pneumonia, malaria, measles, and respiratory infections. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, twenty-five percent of Afghan children die before reaching their fifth birthday and the development of more than half of all children borne in Afghanistan is stunted.

 

Poor sanitation and unclean water have contributed to Afghanistan’s child mortality rate.  In 2007, 92 percent of Afghans did not have access to proper sanitation, the United Nations news agency IRIN reported. According to the Johannesburg-based international anti-poverty agency, only 13 percent of Afghans have access to improved sources of water.

 

A 2007 study by Johns Hopkins University found that child mortality in Afghanistan since 2001 fell by 25 percent. Nevertheless, Afghanistan still has one of the highest rates of child and infant mortality in the world. Despite improvements, creating adequate sanitation systems and improving access to clean water remains a strong challenge that requires an increased, focused commitment by the international community.

 

However, the international community’s interest in rebuilding Afghanistan is waning. 2007 was the deadliest year for US and NATO forces in the country since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 due to suicide bomb attacks and other terrorist actions.  The Afghan Study Group Report, written by retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Jones and former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, reported that there are not enough international military forces in Afghanistan and only an insufficient amount of economic aid has been given to Afghanistan, the Cable News Network (CNN) reported.  Amidst international disinterest, the Taliban have frequently targeted reconstruction and development projects for attack and renewed violence threatens to worsen the quality of life for most Afghans even more.

 

Numerous experts, including Jones and Pickering, have advocated for more aid to reach Afghanistan and more effective projects to be implemented. Although many promises to alleviate the crisis in Afghanistan have been made, few have been fulfilled while hundreds of Afghan children continue to die needlessly every day.

Central Asia Health Review

An independent, online magazine dedicated to the promotion of health and human rights in Central Asia