In Afghanistan, women and girls are blocked from certain education settings and workplaces, and can struggle to access life-saving healthcare.

These restrictions have created an urgent crisis for women in Afghanistan. Due to local customs and laws, many women can only receive healthcare from female providers – but with many women and girls blocked from education settings, there is a shortage of trained female nurses and midwives available, leaving women and girls with no where to turn for their healthcare.

Speaking from MSI’s centre in Kabul, Afghanistan, MSI Country Director Dr. Muslih shares: “Without enough trained female providers, lifesaving reproductive healthcare would simply vanish for women in Afghanistan, and more women would die.”

MSI Reproductive Choices has been working in Afghanistan since 2002, where our local teams support women and girls with their reproductive health and opportunities.

MSI Afghanistan  

Since 2002, MSI Afghanistan has delivered care through years of political upheaval. As an Afghan-led health NGO, it’s one of the few organisations exempted from the ban on women working. That means MSI can keep training and employing a workforce of female healthcare providers. In 2025 alone, MSI Afghanistan supported 1.1 million women with their reproductive healthcare, giving women agency and saving lives.

How is MSI’s midwife training helping?

Since 2024, MSI Afghanistan has offered paid training and work experience to women forced to leave their degree programmes. This provides them with an opportunity to learn and upskill on sexual and reproductive health services.

Over the last two years, this training programme has delivered promising results, equipping women with the skills, confidence and resilience needed to deliver essential healthcare to other women.

As one trainee explained:

“Growing up, I always dreamed of becoming a midwife, but for a long time, that dream felt out of reach. Restrictions on girls’ education have made it hard to gain the qualifications we need.

“Today, I work as a midwife in one of MSI Afghanistan’s mobile teams. I travel door-to-door, reaching women and girls in some of the most underserved communities with birth spacing options and other essential healthcare. We provide advice and care in the privacy of their homes, creating safe spaces where women can speak openly about their health, their choices and their futures.

“I am proud to stand alongside the many Afghan women who continue to care for others in the most challenging circumstances.”

With your support, our MSI Afghanistan programme can continue delivering life-saving healthcare, while training future female providers.

Your help is needed to protect the midwife programme 

The MSI Afghanistan training programme is part of MSI Afghanistan’s work to provide essential healthcare, mental health support, and community outreach for Afghan women and girls. But the midwife programme is now at risk, and we urgently need your help to keep it running.

Demand has never been higher. 250 women across Afghanistan have already applied for the next training programme. At just £1500 per woman, your gift could fund a woman’s path to becoming an experienced health provider.

Together, we can ensure women health providers get the experience and support they need, so that Afghan women don’t lose access to essential care.