• South Asia

South Asia

The Ministry of Public Health of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has adopted the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) for use as a tool to measure and manage performance in delivery of the Basic Package of Health Services throughout Afghanistan. This paper from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health looks at the results from 2004 to 2006 and demonstrates how the health system has shown improvement for many key measures in a majority of provinces in the country. The results demonstrate that improvements in health service delivery have been achieved across the country in a rather short period of time, according to the researchers.

According to the 2006 assessment, more female patients than male patients used outpatient services, and the poor were more likely to use public sector services than the non-poor, which is in line with the Ministry of Public Health’s stated goal for equitable health care. The percentage of women in rural Afghanistan receiving antenatal care during pregnancy from a skilled provider increased from an estimated 4.6 in 2003 to 32.2 in 2006. Over the same time period, the percentage of women in rural Afghanistan who had a doctor, nurse or midwife assist with their last delivery increased. More children are receiving vital childhood immunisations, according to the assessments. The researchers found improvement was needed in the management of tuberculosis treatment, laboratory services, reaching women for care during pregnancy and delivery, and health workers spending a sufficient amount of time with each patient.

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