AMERICANS FOR UNFPA LUNCHEON DISTINGUISHED
2009 SPEAKER FOR THE HEALTH AND DIGNITY OF WOMEN
AFGHANISTAN
“My personal goals are to help Afghanistan become a country that is safe, at peace and healthy for women,” says Sakena Yacoobi, 2009 recipient of the Americans for UNFPA Board of Advocates Award. “Education is the key to peace in Afghanistan.”
Her mother gave birth to Sakena's 16 younger siblings and nearly bled to death because there were no attending doctors. Only five of Sakena’s siblings survived. Thankfully her mom survived, a rarity in Afghanistan where one in seven women dies in childbirth. These devastating experiences as a young woman have shaped Sakena’s life.
In 1995, Sakena founded the Afghan Institute for Learning (AIL) to empower Afghan women to pursue their human rights, develop leadership skills, improve their health and advance their education. When the Taliban closed girls’ schools in the 1990’s, forbidding young women to get an education, Sakena responded by opening 80 underground schools for 3,000 girls in Afghanistan. She worked to provide education and health services to women and girls, coordinating with women at the community level to gain trust and support, despite the ongoing and dangerous threat of this insurgent movement.
With a staff of 450 people, AIL provides a variety of vital health education and social services to 350,000 women and children each year. These services include midwifery, family planning and pre/post natal care to women. Through quality health services, skills training programs and health workshops, Sakena increases the level of education attained by women to help them reach their full potential.
For her incredible bravery and tireless commitment to the women of Afghanistan, Dr. Yacoobi is the recipient of the 2009 Americans for UNFPA Board of Advocates Award for the Health and Dignity of Women. The Americans for UNFPA Board of Advocates Award pays tribute to a remarkable advocate whose personal commitment has improved the status of women in her community.
As award winner, Dr. Yacoobi is traveling to Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Seattle this month to speak to students, and business and community leaders about the women and girls whose rights she champions. The inaugural address took place in Chicago, IL on February 2nd, 2009.
UNFPA IN AFGHANISTAN
- With Sakena, UNFPA established the first Women’s Learning Centers to provide education on women’s health, particularly safe motherhood, and human rights.
- UNFPA supports income generation programs to increase economic empowerment of women.
- UNFPA promotes safe motherhood through the rehabilitation of maternity hospitals, the distribution of reproductive health kits and life saving drugs; and support for health services in underserved areas.
- Since December 1997 UNFPA has supported projects both inside the country and for Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran focusing on emergency obstetric care; distribution of health supplies; basic training of health workers and information, education and communication on women’s health issues.
- UNFPA has provided assistance to Afghanistan since the late 1970s, in the areas of women’s health and family planning.
FACTS
- Afghanistan’s population is estimated at 31 million. Twenty two million people - 70% of the population - live in poverty.
- There is a maternal mortality rate of 1,900 deaths per 100,000 live births versus 43 deaths per 100,000 in the United States.
- Less than 5 percent of the population engages in family planning, and of this only 3.6% utilize modern methods.
- Approximately one in 7 women die in childbirth.
- 14% of births are attended by a skilled birth attendant.
- 49% of women are in the labor force.
- Mean age at marriage: 17 for women, 25 for men.
- The average life expectancy for both women and men is 47 years.
- The median age of the total population is 16 years.
- Over 142,000 people are displaced due to conflict.