UN Experts Warn Medical Education Ban Risks Lives of Afghan Women

UN experts have described the decision to ban girls from attending medical education institutions in Afghanistan as “inexplicable,” in a statement.

They warned that this decision will lead to suffering, illness, and an increase in maternal mortality rates as well as  overall women’s mortality rates in Afghanistan.

The UN experts’ statement reads: “It will undoubtedly lead to unnecessary suffering, illness, and possibly deaths of Afghan women and children, now and in future generations, which could amount to femicide.”

Although the Islamic Emirate has not officially confirmed this decision, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported, citing sources within Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health, that nearly 35,000 female medical students will be deprived of education due to this move.

“According to a source within the health ministry, 35,000 women are currently students in some 10 public and more than 150 private institutes offering two-year diplomas in subjects including nursing, midwifery, dentistry and laboratory work,” AFP stated.

Lima Shirzai, a women’s rights activist, commented on the ban, saying: “Closing medical institutions to girls means that Afghanistan will have no female doctors or nurses in a few years. In the absence of female doctors, consulting male doctors becomes a major privacy concern for women in Afghanistan’s traditional society, leading to more deaths among Afghan women and girls.”

Alamtab Rasooli, another women’s rights activist, said: “It is the right of no girl or woman to be deprived of her basic rights in this way. These medical institutes were the last hope for girls, and sadly, even that has now been taken away.”

Previously, some officials and female students in medical institutes confirmed to that girls have been banned from attending classes and were given only ten days to complete their exams. This decision has sparked domestic and international reactions.