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Reproductive Health For Afghan Women: Decreasing High Maternal Mortality Rates By Increasing Access To Reproductive Health And Education A Proposal For Advocacy And Change, Rosalia Abreu

The Trinity Papers (2011 - present)

This proposal examines the social, cultural, political and structural factors that contribute to high maternal mortality rates in Afghanistan and women’s severe lack of access to adequate health services and education, particularly in the more rural areas of the country. Some of the factors contributing to high maternal mortality rates are distance, lack of trained female doctors and nurses, lack of access to medical supplies, and Afghan cultural norms that require women to remain in the home and stigmatize being treated by male doctors, who are overwhelmingly represented in the medical profession. High illiteracy rates due to lack of access …