Washington, June 06: The World Bank has approved a 59.6 million USD grant to help meet the emergency needs of Afghanistan's rural population, whose health status is among the worst in the world. "The grant, will support a health sector emergency reconstruction and development project which will assist the Afghanistan ministry of health in its efforts to reduce the rates of infant and child mortality, maternal mortality, child malnutrition, and fertility," a bank release said.
"A recent study of all existing health facilities indicated that most of the afghan population does not have access to the basic services that could make a large difference to their health," said Benjamin P. Loevinsohn, a World Bank health specialist and the project leader.

"Indeed, the World Bank-financed project will explicitly focus on ensuring a rapid expansion of health services to rural areas where hundreds of thousands of people, mainly women and children, die every year due to the absence of such services," he said. Bureau Report