"The biggest challenge that Afghan women face is maternal health and high maternal mortality," Ramesh Penumaka, UNFPA Country Representative in Afghanistan, told reporters in the capital Kabul on Tuesday.
Penumaka also noted that 1,600 out of every 100,000 women that give birth die in the process. "That is a staggering 24,000 a year, about 25 times the number of people dying of security-related violent incidents."
The reasons why so many Afghan women die while giving birth range from early marriage - more than half the girls are married before they are 18 - and lack of health facilities and skilled birth attendants to lack of education.
Noting some of the progress made in recent years, Penumaka said that there are now 16,000 community health workers and a sizeable increase in the number of institutions training local midwives.
In 2007, 30 per cent of pregnant women received some kind of attention from a health professional, up from only 4 per cent in 2001. And while only 6 per cent of deliveries were conducted by a skilled attendant in 2001, that number was 80 per cent last year.
UNFPA is working with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on a joint program for maternal mortality reduction.
It is also helping the Ministry of Public Health to develop action plans for maternal health and emergency obstetric care, increase the number of skilled birth attendants, and train doctors and midwives.
Besides, in cooperation with the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and other agencies, UNFPA is working to eliminate violence against women, which affects 80 per cent of women at some time in their lives, according to Penumaka. "This is a major challenge that all of us need to confront, and especially those of us who are men."
The special fund will be formally launched on 8 March, which is observed annually as International Women's Day.
