Vision for Health 2005-2015

In April 2004 the Cabinet of the Transitional Government of Afghanistan requested all Government ministries to submit their vision for the next ten years. The Ministry of Public Health’s vision is briefly summarised below:

"Better health for all Afghans in order to contribute to economic and social development"

Mission Statement of Ministry of Public Health 2005-2009

For the five year period of this national policy, the Mission of the Ministry of Public Health is as follows:

The Mission of the Ministry of Public Health, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is committed to ensuring the accelerated implementation of quality health care for all the people of Afghanistan, through targeting resources especially to women and children and to under-served areas of the country, and through working effectively with communities and other development partners.

Values of the Ministry of Public Health 2005-2009

Values and principles embody the essential ideals of the Ministry of Public Health and offer a moral and ethical code that guides decision making to achieve success. Values are also useful in communicating the reasoning behind decision-making. The Ministry of Public health believes in the following values, all of which are equally important:

  • Right to a healthy life
  • Compassion
  • Honesty and Competence
  • Equity
  • Pro-rural

Working Principles of the Ministry of Public Health 2005-2009

The values held by the Ministry of Public Health are incorporated into the following seven working principles--the moral rules or strong beliefs intended to guide the everyday work of the entire Ministry (see Annex E for further explanation and definition for each of the principles).In this work, the principles listed below are of equal importance, with none taking priority over any other:

  • Treating all people with dignity, honesty and respect and considering healthy life as a basic right of every individual.
  • Making evidence-based decisions.
  • Ensuring equitable access to, and provision of, quality, basic, essential health services.
  • Being honest, transparent and accountable.
  • Improving the effectiveness, efficiency and affordability of health care.
  • Giving priority to groups in greatest need, especially women, children, the disabled and those stricken with poverty.
  • Promoting healthy lifestyles and discouraging practices proven to be harmful.

Promotion of Effective Partnerships

As the national steward for the health sector in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Public Health is interested in the principles of partnership and collaboration with all stakeholders sector wide and in having as complete a picture as possible of all activities in the health sector--who is doing what, where and why. This full picture not only includes the activities of staff working in health facilities and professional associations but also those of communities, private not-for profit and for-profit organisations, bilateral and multilateral agencies, the UN organisations, academia and research organisations. Stakeholder involvement is to make the best use of limited resources in working towards achieving equitable and sustainable improvements in health.The examples below demonstrate ways in which the Ministry of Public Health is working towards more effective partnerships:

  • Strongly advocating the Ministry’s priorities with the Ministry of Finance
  • Engaging increasingly in governments’ broader civil service and budget initiatives and reforms
  • Using the strengths and comparative advantages of its partners
  • Ensuring that the Ministry and its partners are focused on the same goals
  • Being pro-active with donors and guiding them to input selectively to the Ministry’s priority programmes
  • Holding constructive dialogue with the private-for-profit sector
  • Strengthening coordination and other collaboration mechanisms

This effort to promote effective partnerships is seen as the first possible step towards adopting a sector wide approach (SWAp) and the pooling of all resources.

NATIONAL HEALTH POLICY 2005-2009

The national health policy goal, objective and priorities describe the overarching course of actions the Ministry of Public Health must take for the next five years. Developing the National Health Policy included review of the following:

  • Progress in achieving the planned outputs in the interim health strategy 2002-2004
  • Present need for incremental changes in health policy
  • Future possibilities for bringing about health sector changes
  • Experience of working with different stakeholders
  • Availability of necessary economic and other resources
  • Challenges identified for more effective implementation country wide

Goal

Develop the health sector to improve the health of the people of Afghanistan, especially women and children, through implementing the basic package of health services (BPHS) and the essential package of hospital services (EPHS) as the standard, agreed-upon minimum of health care to be provided at each level of the health system.

Objectives

Reduce the high levels of mortality and morbidity by:

  • Improving access to quality emergency and routine reproductive and child health services
  • Increasing the coverage and quality of services to prevent and treat communicable diseases and malnutrition among children and adults
  • Strengthening institutional development and management at central and provincial levels to ensure the effective and cost-efficient delivery of quality health services
  • Further developing the capacity of health personnel to manage and better deliver quality health services

Priorities

In order to achieve the National Health Policy goal and objectives, the Ministry has identified 18 priorities. These are shown in Box 3 and are further elaborated upon as strategies in the National Health Strategy 2005-2006, presented later in this document. Of the 18 priorities, nine are considered to be top priority.

Afghanistan’s current top six prioritized needs:

  • Reducing maternal and newborn mortality
  • Reducing under 5s mortality and improving child health
  • Reducing the incidence of communicable diseases
  • Reducing malnutrition
  • Developing the health system
  • Addressing mental health needs

Nine Top Priorities

Implementing health services:

  • Implement the basic package of health services
  • Implement the essential package of hospital services
  • Establish prevention and promotion programmes, Promote greater community participation, Improve coordination of health services, Strengthen the coverage of quality support programmes

Reducing morbidity and mortality:

  • Improve the quality of maternal and reproductive health care
  • Improve the quality of child health initiatives
  • Strengthen the delivery of cost effective integrated communicable disease control programmes Reduce prevalence of malnutrition and increase access to micronutrients.

Institutional development:

  • Promote institutional and management development at all levels.
  • Strengthen human resources development, especially of female staff.
  • Strengthen health planning, monitoring and evaluation at all levels,Develop health financing and national health accounts, Strengthen provincial level management and coordination,Continue to implement PRR,Establish quality assurance,Develop and enforce public and private sector regulations and laws

Outcomes

Focusing the health policy on accelerated implementation is expected to result in the following four outcomes:

  • Maternal mortality ratio reduced, from 1,600 to 1,300
  • Infant mortality rate reduced, from 140 to 105
  • Under-five mortality rate reduced, from 230 to 180
  • Prevalence of acute malnutrition among children under five years of age lowered from 7% to less than 5%

The following three sections:

  • Implementing Health Service
  • Reducing Morbidity and Mortality
  • Institutional Development

State the national policy commitments for individual programme areas that are within the policy framework and covered by the national policy goal, objectives and priorities. Policy statements have been derived from Ministry of Public Health policy and Strategy documents, including those for particular subjects, such as malaria and nutrition. These documents are available in the Ministry’s Resource Centre.