Poverty, vulnerability, and provision of healthcare in Afghanistan.

This paper presents findings on conditions of healthcare delivery in Afghanistan. There is an ongoing debate about barriers to healthcare in low-income as well as fragile states. In 2002, the Government of Afghanistan established a Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS), contracting primary healthcare delivery to non-state providers.

Client perceptions of the quality of primary care services in Afghanistan.

Objective: To identify factors associated with client perceptions of the quality of primary care services in Afghanistan.

Design: Cross-sectional survey of outpatient health facilities, health workers, patients and caretakers.

Setting: Primary health care facilities in every province of Afghanistan.

Determinants of skilled birth attendant utilization in Afghanistan: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: We sought to identify characteristics associated with use of skilled birth attendants where health services exist in Afghanistan.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in all 33 provinces in 2004, yielding data from 617 health facilities and 9917 women who lived near the facilities and had given birth in the past 2 years.

Results: Only 13% of respondents had used skilled birth attendants.