WHO asks Taliban govt to lift female aid worker restrictions
ISLAMABAD: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan to lift restrictions on female aid workers, saying the rules are blocking women’s access to life-saving care after last week’s devastating earthquakes killed more than 2,200 people in the country’s eastern provinces.
WHO officials warned that a severe shortage of female doctors and nurses is worsening the crisis. Dr Mukta Sharma, the agency’s deputy representative in Afghanistan, said around 90% of medical staff in the affected areas are men, while the remaining 10% are mostly midwives or nurses who cannot handle serious trauma cases. She stressed that many women and girls are too afraid or uncomfortable to seek treatment from male doctors, and cannot travel alone under the Taliban’s male guardian, or mahram, restrictions.
The magnitude-6 quake on September 1 and its aftershocks injured more than 3,600 people and left thousands homeless, adding to the humanitarian strain on a country already reeling from aid cuts and economic collapse since the Taliban takeover in 2021. WHO said the earthquake has compounded the crisis for women, especially thousands of pregnant mothers who urgently need medical help in a country with one of Asia’s highest maternal mortality rates.
Despite the Taliban’s claims that women can still receive aid, Sharma said no formal exemption has been provided to allow female health workers to travel freely. Humanitarian groups remain uncertain about whether they can deploy women staff, with many unable to take the risk. “The restrictions are huge, the mahram issue continues, and no formal exemption has been provided,” she said, warning that the lack of flexibility is crippling relief efforts.
Local residents echoed these concerns. Peer Gul, from Somai district in quake-hit Kunar province, said women in his village are suffering from trauma, high blood pressure, and injuries but cannot find female doctors for examinations. “There is no female doctor; only one male doctor is available,” he said.
Adding to the pressure, the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education beyond high school and university has left a dwindling pipeline of future female doctors, raising fears of an even deeper healthcare collapse in the years ahead.
The UN estimates that around 11,600 pregnant women have been directly impacted by the earthquakes. At the same time, funding cuts — including by the US this year — have already forced the closure of 80 health facilities in affected regions, while another 16 posts were destroyed by the earthquake itself.
WHO said it raised the issue with Taliban officials last week and called for urgent exemptions to allow female doctors, nurses, and midwives to work without male guardians, especially in disaster-hit zones. Sharma warned that mental health needs are also growing fast among Afghan women who lost male family members in the quakes, leaving them unable to move freely under Taliban restrictions.
“This is the time you really need to have more female health workers present,” she stressed, urging authorities to act before the crisis deepens further.
Read more on Afghanistan earthquake updates at MegaNews.tv
