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By Latifa Jafari Alavi
License: RWI report
Maternal healthcare in Afghanistan is facing a catastrophic breakdown. A woman’s chance of surviving pregnancy depends on who she is, her ethnicity, class, disability status, age, sexual orientation, or gender identity, rather than on her medical needs. Marginalised groups, including ethnic minority women, women with disabilities, adolescent girls, and LGBTQ+ individuals requiring maternal care (such as lesbian women or trans men), face extreme, intersecting barriers rooted in systemic discrimination, patriarchal control, and the collapse of health services under Taliban rule.
Since August 2021, Taliban restrictions on women’s mobility, education, and work have shattered essential maternal health systems. Female health workers have been excluded,
public facilities have crumbled, and humanitarian funding has shrunk. Rural areas and minority communities have been hit hardest, leavinge thousands of women without lifesaving care.
This brief draws on qualitative research across 14 provinces, including interviews with affected women, midwives, nurses, and civil society actors. It reveals how structural collapse,
discriminatory laws, and social norms converge to create a gender justice and human rights
emergency.
Key words: Afghanistan; women’s rights; maternal health; gender justice; right to health; intersecting barriers