Afghanistan is one of the most difficult places to be a woman.

Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, gender equality has significantly worsened, and access to sexual and reproductive health services remains challenging. Women and girls are restricted in education and movement, and NGO operations are limited.

These restrictions have created an urgent crisis for Afghanistan’s health system. Women who were studying to become nurses, midwives, or other medical professionals were forced to stop before completing their degrees, and today women cannot even enrol. The crisis is exacerbated by strict cultural norms that require many Afghan women to be seen by female providers, especially for reproductive and maternal health services.

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 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 women. In 2025 alone, MSI Afghanistan reached 1.1 million clients, preventing 99,300 unsafe abortions and 196,800 unintended pregnancies, while saving over $10 million in healthcare costs.

What is the training programme?

Since 2024, MSI Afghanistan has offered paid training and work experience to women forced to leave their degree programmes. This provides them 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 contribute meaningfully to Afghanistan’s healthcare system.

For many, this programme was their first real clinical setting. By bridging the gap between classroom learning and first-hand practice, the programme enabled participants to provide essential family planning care with professionalism.

Through three cohorts, the programme has supported 132 Afghan women – primarily those whose medical, midwifery or nursing education was interrupted – to complete supervised clinical placements within MSI Afghanistan facilities.

Would you like to support the next cohort?

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED. 

Help Afghan women train in reproductive healthcare so they can provide lifesaving services in their communities.

The MSI Afghanistan training programme is part of a bigger effort providing essential healthcare, mental health support, and community outreach for Afghan women and girls. This full programme is now at risk of closing, and we urgently need your help to keep it running.

We are seeking to raise £400,000 to continue MSI Afghanistan’s incredible work training the next generation of women healthcare workers.

Demand has never been higher. 250 women across Afghanistan have already applied for the next cohort, set to begin in August. At just £1500 per woman, your gift directly funds 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.