Rights report: State of Afghan women's health care grim

A leading rights group has offered a bleak report on women's health care in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan -- After nearly 20 years since the ouster of the Taliban and hundreds of millions of dollars spent on infrastructure and aid, many Afghan women still have poor access to health facilities and providers, a leading rights group said Thursday. Human Rights Watch offered a bleak assessment of women’s health care in Afghanistan in its latest report, saying that even basic information on health and family planning is not available to most Afghan women. And even when women can get the care they need, the quality is often poor, the New York-based group said. New health facilities that have opened over the years are often insufficiently staffed and inadequately equipped, HRW said. The group's researchers visited several health facilities in the capital of Kabul, where many of the country’s better clinics and hospitals are located. The report says there are 4.6 medical professionals to 10,000 people in Afghanistan; the World Health Organization considers 23 medical professionals to 10,000 people a critical shortage.