Potential Impact of Maternal and Newborn Health Improvements in Afghanistan: Projection of Mortality to 2030

Background: Despite remarkable progress, Afghanistan’s health sector continued to be hampered by chronic challenges undermining its performance including pervasive poverty and ongoing instability. At present, many pregnant women remain vulnerable because of low access to antenatal care, postnatal care, and skilled birth attendance. Objective: To illustrate the potential impact that continued improvements in maternal and neonatal health can have in terms of lives saved, and progress towards development goals. More nuanced modeling to consider the current quality of services is needed to inform resource mobilization and allocation decisions in a constrained fiscal space. Results: If coverage of evidence-based neonatal and maternal interventions reaches 90% of those in need by 2030, the neonatal mortality rate would drop from 36 to 16 per 1,000 live births, and the maternal mortality ratio from 638 to 237 per 100,000 live births. These reductions would mostly be driven by increases in coverage of interventions during childbirth. Conclusion: Tenacity, innovation, reinvigorated commitment, and continued financial resources are critically needed from the international health community and local government to avoid needless deaths and save lives.