Kabul, Jan 2 (EFE).- The Taliban’s ban on obstetrics and nursing studies has not only closed for Afghan women one of the last remaining doors for professional training, but also threatens to leave them without access to basic care because of cultural norms that prevent them from being treated by male doctors.
Afghan nursing and midwifery students Madina Azami, Roya Siddiqui and Tahmina Azami practice nursing and midwifery at a private hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, 24 December 2024 (issued 02 January 2025). EFE/EPA/SAMIULLAH POPAL
This new ban, announced at the beginning of December by the Taliban’s de facto government in Afghanistan, marks the most recent setback to Afghan women since the return of the fundamentalists to power in August in 2021.
The restrictions on females include a ban on higher education, which pushed many women to change their fields of training and enroll in the so-called short medical studies – obstetrics and nursing – in order to have a professional career.
Uzma Zarifi, 24, was initially a business administration student who went on to pursue the short course on medical studies for females after the Taliban banned women from higher education in December in 2022.
“This is a very serious emotional blow for us (Afghan women). We dreamed of continuing even through these medical institutes for a brighter future. But, unfortunately, this also closed,” Zarifi told EFE.
Madina Azimi, 23, an economics student who switched to the midwifery course, has had a similar experience.
“When half of the human body is paralyzed, can the other organs function properly or progress?” she said metaphorically referring to women, who constitute half of Afghanistan’s population but who are being totally excluded from public life by the authorities.
SHe underlined that the setback in her education was not only a personal loss, but also showed the failure of the Taliban to meet the critical needs of Afghanistan, which has been going through an economic, social and humanitarian crisis.
“If the situation of universities and education continues like this, we will have a society that knows nothing about its health, its rights or the rights of others,” she added.
At the time the ban was issued, about 35,000 women were pursuing medical studies at different institutes in Afghanistan, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Public Health.
In addition to threatening their professional future, this ban poses a danger to the health of thousands of women and girls in Afghanistan, a country that has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and where cultural norms and strict Taliban rules prevent them from being treated by male doctors.
“In our traditional society we saw every day how women lost their lives due to the lack of female medical care because male doctors could not help,” Tayaba, 26, told EFE.
In August, UNFPA warned that Afghanistan urgently needed 18,000 additional midwives.
“Who will treat our mothers, sisters and daughters now?” said Tayaba.
Moreover, the UN and several international organizations such as Human Rights Watch have denounced that the latest ban will have “devastating health consequences” for Afghan women.
In this regard, they once again urged the Taliban to comply with their human rights obligations, whose violations by the fundamentalist regime have been repeatedly denounced by different sections of the international community. EFE
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