Access to medical care improves for Afghan children

Thanks to the construction of health clinics and trainings for health providers, nearly 90,000 Afghan children who had have passed away before their fifth birthday will live to at least that age this year, President Hamid Karzai said Sunday.

The Associated Press reported the same day that the country has seen a dramatic increase in the level of access to health services since the U.S-led invasion.

“This is certainly very positive news,” said the U.N. spokesman in Afghanistan, Adrian Edwards. “To come from such low life expectancy to see this improvement does appear to be an indication that the work on the health sector here is beginning to pay off.”

However, the country still faces difficulties in providing adequate child health care. Nearly one in five children still die before age five, many from malnutrition and illnesses such as diarrhea, tuberculosis, malaria.

UNICEF reported that most countries with the worst child mortality rates have suffered from armed conflict.

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