EMERGENCY presents: A Quiet Revolution. Behind the scenes of Afghan Women’s lives. The EMERGENCY Anabah Maternity Centre and Women’s empowerment in Afghanistan

2019 marks the 41st year of war in Afghanistan. The country has been devastated by a continuous war that has caused enormous damage, millions of casualties and an even higher number of internally displaced people and refugees.

The war has seriously damaged the country, including the national health system. The condition of women, in particular, has deteriorated due to severe restrictions on their access to care and the difficulties in training new healthcare workers.

EMERGENCY has been in Afghanistan since 1999 and in 2003, in Anabah, in the Panjshir Valley, it built a Maternity Centre, that, even today, remains the only specialised free facility in the area.

‘A Quiet Revolution’, a report from EMERGENCY due to be published on 15 October, was created to analyse how the system set up by the organisation in the Panjshir Valley can provide a model to be replicated in other areas of the country and elsewhere.

The report examines how the medical assistance offered to patients at the Maternity Centre and local network of First Aid Posts, together with the training provided by healthcare workers, influences the role of women in society.