Recently, President Hamid Karzai praised the developments made in Afghanistan. One of these developments is the betterment in medical facilities provided to the people. Observing the ground realities, we can confidently say that health conditions in Afghanistan have not significantly and satisfactorily improved, although President Karzai claims. Each year thousands of Afghans travel to neighboring and other countries of the world for seeking better medical treatments.

Specifically speaking, the health facilities being provided to mothers and children are almost negligible. If in Kabul the condition has undergone some positive change, in other province of Afghanistan it is very concerning. Save the Children released its 12th Annual Mothers Index on Tuesday May 03, 2011. The survey considers Afghanistan the worst place to be a mother, with women having a life expectancy of 45 years — the world's lowest — and one of every 11 women dying in childbirth. One of every five children in the country does not live to age 5. By contrast, a typical Norwegian woman lives to be 83 years old, and just one in 175 will lose a child before his or her 5th birthday.

There is no doubt that the three decades of war is majorly responsible for the lowest medical facilities in Afghanistan for mothers, children and others. But the functions of the government in the last ten years are also questionable. The services being provided in the public hospitals are inadequate and not according to standards in capital Kabul, even if we do not consider other province. The hospitals in capital are overcrowded because of the influx of patients from across Afghanistan. The private hospitals on the other hand provide better facilities but the charges are very high for a common Afghan. We can not deny the contribution and support of international community to the health sector. But this is the government that has failed to properly utilize the huge amounts of funds it has received. The achievements in the post Taliban Afghanistan for saving the lives of people are negligible and insufficient. The health sector of Afghanistan is in dire need of attention and further investments.