Health & Kandahar Province

Health & Kandahar Province

Ensuring the availability of basic health and hospital services, and developing human resources in the
health sector, is essential to reduce the incidence of disease, increase life expectancy and enable the
whole population to participate in sustainable development. A basic infrastructure of health services
exists in Kandahar province. In 2005 there were 20 health centers and 8 hospitals with a total of 375
beds. There were also 140 doctors and 288 nurses employed by the Ministry of Health working in the
province, which represented nearly twice as many doctors (up from 77) and 50% more nurses (up from
188) since 2003.

The province also has 94 pharmacies of which 92 are owned privately and 2 are run by the government.
Drugstores are present only in 46 villages and 45% of the population has to travel more than ten
kilometers to reach to the nearest drugstore.
The majority of communities do not have a health worker permanently present in their community.
Thirty nine percent of men’s shura and 59% of women’s shura reported that there was no community
health worker present, and both groups most commonly said that a basic health center or clinic without
beds is their nearest health facility. Only 3.5% of the population has a health center and 4.2% has a
dispensary within their village. Around half the population seeking medical attention must travel more
than ten kilometers (55% for health centers and 51% for dispensaries).