UNICEF warns Afghanistan could lose up to 25,000 female health workers, teachers

Afghanistan is at risk of losing more than 25,000 female teachers and health workers by 2030 if the Taliban-led country’s restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment are not lifted, according to a new UNICEF report released on Monday.

The Taliban has banned women from most public sector jobs and limited girls to receiving an education only until the age of 12.

These restrictions, according to the report, have already affected at least 1 million girls - a figure that is expected to double by 2030 if nothing changes. UNICEF called on the Taliban to lift the ban that it imposed after returning to political power in 2021. 

UNICEF’s “The Cost of Inaction on Girls’ Education and Women’s Labour Force Participation in Afghanistan” report found a rapid decline in qualified women entering the teaching and healthcare sectors.

Up to 20,000 female teachers and 5,400 health workers could be lost by 2030, according to the report, which estimated that this figure is about 25% of Afghanistan’s 2021 workforce. As many as 9,600 health workers could be lost by 2035, it added.

“Afghanistan cannot afford to lose future teachers, nurses, doctors, midwives, and social workers, who sustain essential services,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said. “This will be the reality if girls continue to be excluded from education.”

Reuters