Medical institutions were the last hope for Afghan girls and women seeking higher education since the Taliban banned schools and universities for women

“Why do you torture us every day? Just give us poison and end it all,” a heartbroken Afghan medical student told Taliban forces, expressing the despair of thousands of girls whose dreams of becoming healthcare professionals were shattered by the Taliban’s latest decree.

The hardline group has banned all female medical students from pursuing education, marking the closure of nursing and midwifery programs across Afghanistan, the last lifeline for girls seeking higher education in a country where women’s rights have been systematically eroded since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.

The Taliban’s recent decree, issued directly by the group’s supreme leader, Hebatullah Akhundzada, has caused immediate devastation. 

For the past three years, nursing and midwifery were the only remaining fields of study open to women after the Taliban banned girls from attending secondary schools and universities. The abrupt closure of these institutions has ignited widespread despair across Afghan society.

The ban comes a few months after the Taliban banned women’s voices and faces in public under so-called new vice and virtue laws. 

‘Are we not human?’

The abrupt ban came just days before completion of the last 2024 semester for many aspiring students like Zohra*, a nursing and midwifery student at the Abu Ali Sina Institute in the country’s northern Balkh province.

She told the Health Policy Watch: “These institutes were our last chance to continue our education after schools and universities were closed. I had set a new goal and worked hard, receiving good grades. I was on my way to becoming a midwifery graduate, to help my family, my country, and other women. Now, I’ve truly lost all hope for life.”

Kabul-based Maryam* echoed the despair. “We are Muslims, we observe Islamic hijab, and we just want access to education. Why do they not open the doors of the medical institutes for us? Since the closure of the institutes, I’ve lost track of day and night. I can’t sleep. My parents took me to a psychologist a few times, but nothing is helping. Are we not human?”

‘I have turned homeless’

“I have turned homeless, wandering aimlessly,” one student said in a viral video. Her words, along with others like it, have echoed through Kabul and beyond as girls wearing full-body black veils, many in tears, left their classrooms for the final time, uncertain if they would ever return.

Fariba*, a mother from Kabul, received devastating news when her daughter, Parwana, called early one morning, sobbing uncontrollably. 

“She never calls at this time,” Fariba, who once taught elementary education to girls, told Health Policy Watch. “It’s when she’s in class.” 

Her daughter Sara* had been studying nursing after her dream of attending university to study computer science was dashed by the Taliban’s closure of higher education for girls.

“Now, we are left without hope,” Sara, 20, lamented. “Our dreams are shattered. We are being pushed into the darkness.”

Conservative estimates suggest that around 35,000 girls were enrolled in over 150 private and 10 public medical institutions offering diplomas in fields such as nursing, midwifery, dentistry, and laboratory sciences before the Taliban’s ban. 

These programs were the last available option for young Afghan women who sought to contribute to their communities, particularly in healthcare.

The abrupt suspension has left students in shock. The administrator of one of the nursing institutes sent a message to all female students: “With a heavy heart, I must inform you that until further notice from the Islamic Emirate, you must not come to the institute for studies.”

Deepening health crisis

This move not only marks the end of the academic ambitions of girls and women, but also deepens the country’s already precarious healthcare crisis.

Afghanistan’s healthcare system was already under strain before the Taliban’s return to power, with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. 

In 2020, the country saw 620 women die for every 100,000 live births – a stark contrast to just 10 deaths in the UK, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Less than 60% of births were overseen by trained health personnel in 2019, according to the  United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which estimates that Afghanistan requires an additional 18,000 skilled midwives to meet the needs of its women.

The Taliban have BANNED women from studying in medical institutes in Afghanistan.

This is femicide in action. By blocking women from becoming doctors and banning them from seeing male doctors, the Taliban are basically telling Afghan women to suffer and die without healthcare. pic.twitter.com/UAu4lS9tYE

— Shabnam Nasimi (@NasimiShabnam) December 3, 2024

Despite the overwhelming need for female healthcare workers, the Taliban’s decision to block access to medical education for women will exacerbate the crisis. 

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned that the country’s lack of female healthcare professionals would directly impact the provision of essential health services, especially maternal care.

“There is no healthcare system without educated female health practitioners,” said Mickael Le Paih, MSF’s Country Representative in Afghanistan. 

“In MSF, more than 41% of our medical staff are women. The decision to bar women from studying at medical institutes will further exclude them from both education and healthcare.”

The healthcare sector’s reliance on female professionals is especially critical in Afghanistan, where cultural norms often prevent women from being treated by male doctors. 

Dr Ahmed Rashed, a Kabul-based health policy expert, warned that the Taliban’s latest decree would create numerous social challenges, especially for Afghan women who prefer to be treated by female healthcare workers.

“If girls cannot attend secondary school, and women cannot study at universities or medical institutes, where will the future generation of female doctors come from?” Rashed asked. “Who will provide healthcare to Afghan women when they need it most? For essential services to be available to all genders, they must be delivered by all genders.”

International outcry

Last week, the United Nations (UN) Security Council criticized the medical education ban and the “vice and virtue” law issued in August in a unanimous resolution voicing concern about “the increasing erosion” of human rights in the country.

“If implemented, the reported new ban will be yet another inexplicable, totally unjustifiable blow to the health, dignity, and futures of Afghan women and girls. It will constitute yet another direct assault on the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan,” according to UN Special Rapporteurs working on women’s rights, human rights and health. 

“It will undoubtedly lead to unnecessary suffering, illness, and possibly deaths of Afghan women and children, now and in future generations, which could amount to femicide.”

The Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC), which trains female healthcare workers in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, reported that it had been verbally informed that classes for women would be “temporarily suspended.” 

As the Taliban’s gender-based restrictions continue to devastate the lives of millions of Afghan women and girls, the question remains: What is the future of Afghanistan’s healthcare system? Without access to education, Afghan women will be barred from becoming the doctors, nurses, and midwives their country so desperately needs.

This decision, experts warn, will not only create immediate social and healthcare challenges but will have long-term consequences for generations to come.

* Names changed to protect their identities. Updated 22.12.2024.

Manija Mirzaie is an Afghan journalist now based abroad.

Image Credits: WHO EMRO, Ifrah Akhter/ Unsplash.