Project Description
/ AFGHANISTAN
Access to health for child and mothers in Afghanistan
Access to health for child and mothers in Afghanistan
CONTEXT
In Afghanistan, a serious humanitarian crisis persists, exacerbated since the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Some 69% of the population has no access to sufficient resources to meet its basic needs. The situation has been exacerbated by earthquakes, drought, economic instability, climate change and the influx of returnees at the border…
Women and girls are the first victims of this violence. Afghanistan is the worst country in the world in which to be born a girl. Erased from society, deprived of education, work, freedom of movement, freedom of dress… Women’s and girls’ rights are scorned with every passing day.
Seven out of ten Afghan citizens are deprived of access to essential health services, placing a heavy burden on women and girls in the context of the economic crisis. Over two million children suffer from malnutrition. With their immune systems weakened, they are more likely to die from infectious diseases. The delivery of humanitarian aid remains limited.
Pio Smith, UNFPA Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, highlighted the devastating impact on women and girls during a December 2023 visit to Herat province, where feelings of despair and suicidal thoughts predominate due to human crises and earthquakes. Ms. Smith stresses the urgent need for psychological and social support to help women and girls.
→ 50 000 girls and women benefiting from the project
→ 24 women die every day in childbirth (2020, OMS)
THE PROJECT
Women can hardly practice medicine in Afghanistan any more. And yet, it is mostly women who treat other women, creating a de facto shortage and, above all, a health hazard for women and girls. To date, health is the only area in which the Taliban still accept foreign humanitarian aid.
In the midst of this crisis, the Stand Speak Rise Up! emergency health project is working to provide essential health services to mothers and children in the province of Nuristan. With a population of around 167,000 people working in agriculture, livestock and day labor, Nuristan faces seasonal climatic changes. The main aim of the project is to reduce mortality, particularly among children and women giving birth.
Objectives and planned actions :
- Training women doctors (training, distribution of medical equipment, etc.)
- Reduction of infant mortality (distribution of sterilized delivery kits, distribution of nutrients for infants, vaccination campaigns, etc.).
- Preventing women’s health (raising awareness of female cancers, gynecological check-ups, etc.).
Afghanistan: Stand Speak Rise Up!’s advocacy led by Chékéba Hachemi in the media
Public Sénat
At eleven years old, she fled Afghanistan alone to escape the war. As a refugee in France, she has dedicated her life to the empowerment of Afghan women. The first Afghan diplomat, serving at the European Union from 2002 to 2005, she founded “Afghanistan Libre” and the NGO “Stand Speak Rise Up,” which supports survivors of sexual violence in conflict zones. As Afghan women’s freedoms have been shrinking since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, how does she find the strength to keep fighting? Is the worsening situation for Afghan women inevitable? How can we break the silence and the West’s inaction in the face of this tragedy? This week, Rebecca Fitoussi welcomes Chékéba Hachemi on “Un monde, un regard,” an inspiring series of in-depth interviews in a world lacking direction and role models.
Through the association Stand Speak Rise Up!, an advisor to the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg fights for the little freedom Afghan women still have.
Éric Cheysson, a surgeon and president of La Chaîne de l’Espoir, describes the situation as “social femicide.” Chékéba Hachemi, co-founder of the Luxembourg-based association Stand Speak Rise Up!, refers to it as “a form of genocide and a defiance of the West.”
The law enacted on August 22 by the Taliban government to “promote virtue and prevent vice” now governs many aspects of Afghan life under Islamic law, the Sharia. This 87-page, 35-article text is particularly oppressive for women, with its most absurd point being that they no longer have the right to raise their voices.
In Afghanistan, women are now prohibited from raising their voices in public. Three years after their return to power, the Taliban continue to gradually erase, “in the name of Islam,” half of their population, while the other half remains silent. How far will they go? What is life like today in Kabul and beyond? Is there a way out of this prison? We discuss these questions with Chékéba Hachemi and Eric Cheysson.
With a new law, the Taliban are further stifling the rights of Afghan women. Chekeba Hachemi, co-founder of Stand Speak Rise Up!, denounced this new Taliban law on France 2, which represents a new setback for the rights of Afghan women. The situation in Afghanistan is dire
Three years after the Taliban took power, women’s rights in Afghanistan continue to deteriorate. For ELLE, Chékéba Hachemi, president of Afghanistan Libre and co-founder of Stand Speak Rise Up, reacts to the new morality law, which further silences women.
Jerome Bloch highlights the statements of Chékéba Hachemi, co-founder of Stand Speak Rise Up!, on the dire situation of women in Afghanistan.
Stand Speak Rise Up! mobilizes for Afghan women and girls through emergency humanitarian distribution projects and access to maternal and child health care.