Afghanistan
The inaccessibility and utilization of antenatal health-care services in Balkh Province of Afghanistan
More than 500,000 maternal deaths occur worldwide every year, of which a quarter to a third of all deaths is the result of pregnancy-related complications (WHO, 2000). The regional variation in reproductive health outcome is also very wide as about 99 per cent of maternal deaths occur in developing countries. A woman living in Africa faces 200 times greater risk of dying from complications related to pregnancy than a woman living in an industrialized country (WHO, 2000).
Drug industry in Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a male-dominated society. It is also a society where authority and power mean a lot. I think that the fact that I am a guest in their country, a foreign woman, representing the United Nations – a respected organization – works in my favour. Afghanistan is very different from my own home country, Sweden, but beyond the surface we are all surprisingly alike. Daily life in Kabul is not very comfortable; I lived in one room for more than a year before I found a small flat in a securitycleared compound. The security situation is very worrying and limits your personal life as well as the work of the United Nations. The suicide attack on a UN convoy in Kandahar province in the south of the country on 14 September, which killed two WHO colleagues, was a terrible blow to all of us. It is getting increasingly difficult and dangerous. Half of the country is at least partially out of reach for us because of lack of security. The costs of operations are going up because of the volatile situation.
Afghanistan: Enabling trade for economic growth and regional cooperation
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Afghanistan that want to become a part of the global trade market are faced with a myriad of problems that render this objective very difficult, if not impossible, in many cases.
Assessment of Development Results - Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
This report presents an independent evaluation managed by the Evaluation Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2008. It assesses UNDP’s overall contribution to the development of the country over the most recent programming cycles, as well as the strategy and performance of UNDP-Afghanistan during the last programme cycles and their action plans.
Mitigating Climate Change Through Investments in Fossil Fuel Technologies
A Synthesis Report Based on National Case Studies from Afghanistan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan
Assessment of Development Results - Afghanistan (Second Assessment)
This Assessment of Development Results (ADR) in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is an independent country-level evaluation conducted by the Evaluation Office of UNDP in 2012-2013. It assesses UNDP’s overall performance and contribution to stabilization and development in Afghanistan and covers the period of 2009-2013, corresponding approximately with the programming period from 2010-2014 This is the second ADR to be conducted in Afghanistan. The previous one was undertaken in 2008-2009 and covered the period 2002-2008.
Afghanistan Gender Country Profile 2024
The current situation in Afghanistan presents globally unprecedented challenges to delivering targeted interventions on gender equality. Since August 2021, the Taliban has undertaken an intensive and systematic dismantling of Afghanistan’s legal and institutional infrastructure, particularly targeting those who had supported the gender equality and women’s empowerment advances achieved under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021. Significant discrepancies exist between the national and subnational levels, yet data collection on issues relating to gender equality is increasingly difficult, especially following bans on women working for NGOs and the extension of this ban to the United Nations. The “Afghanistan gender country profile 2024”, produced with the support of the European Union, provides a snapshot of the current situation regarding gender equality in Afghanistan, noting the previous legal and institutional frameworks (from the period 1978–2021), and examining the current decrees, policies, and practices shaping the gender equality landscape under Taliban rule. The document then provides a detailed gender analysis and pertinent statistical data to provide an overview of the prevailing situation in-country across key priority thematic areas.
Afghanistan Rapid eTrade Readiness Assessment
Afghanistan Opium Survey 2023
Cultivation and Production After the Ban - Effects and Implications
Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan plunged by an estimated 95 per cent following a drug ban imposed by the de facto authorities in April 2022, according to this new report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). UN officials noted that the near-total contraction of the opiate economy is expected to have far-reaching consequences and highlighted the urgent need for enhanced assistance for rural communities, accompanied by alternative development support to build an opium-free future for the people of Afghanistan. Opium cultivation fell across all parts of the country, from 233,000 hectares to just 10,800 hectares in 2023. The decrease has led to a corresponding 95 per cent drop in the supply of opium, from 6,200 tons in 2022 to just 333 tons in 2023.
Understanding Illegal Methamphetamine Manufacture in Afghanistan
The analysis in this report examines the modalities of illegal methamphetamine manufacture in Afghanistan, highlighting risks to the region. The findings presented here contextualize illegal manufacture of methamphetamine with respect to quantify total methamphetamine production, different input materials. The analysis contained in this report does not seek to evaluate or assess the effectiveness of counternarcotics measures in the country, nor does it consider the effects of the April 2022 announcement of enforcement against the production, trafficking, and consumption of all illicit drugs in Afghanistan. The research shows that common cold medications and industrial-grade bulk precursors offer more efficient, reliable and virtually limitless means to support illegal manufacture compared with naturally occurring sources of ephedrine.
Afghanistan Drug Insights 2024
The Afghanistan Drug Insights 2024 is a set of three reports that provide latest data and in-depth analysis on aspects of the evolving drug situation in Afghanistan. Opium production in Afghanistan remains low for the second consecutive year, with production at 433 tons in 2024, confirmed new estimates from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Although this figure represents a 30 per cent increase from 2023, production still remains 93 per cent below 2022 levels, when the de facto authorities began enforcing a country-wide drug ban.
Afghanistan Opium Survey 2025
Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2025 decreased by 20 per cent compared to the previous year, according to a new survey from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The sharp contraction, together with market indicators, suggest that opium production and trafficking are undergoing major shifts in the region. The total area under opium poppy cultivation in 2025 was estimated at 10,200 hectares, 20 per cent lower than in 2024 (12,800 hectares) and a fraction of the pre-ban levels recorded in 2022, when an estimated 232,000 hectares were cultivated nationwide. Accordingly, opium production has also declined in 2025, at a rate even greater than that of cultivation, dropping by 32 per cent compared to 2024, to an estimated total of 296 tons. Farmers’ income from opium sales fell by 48 per cent from US$260 million in 2024 to US$134 million in 2025. After the ban, many farmers shifted to growing cereals and other crops. Worsening weather conditions, such as droughts or low rainfall, however, resulted in over 40 per cent of farmland laying barren. Simultaneously, the return of approximately four million Afghans from neighbouring countries, representing by now around 10 per cent of the country’s population, has intensified competition for scarce jobs and resources. All these factors, paired with the reductions in humanitarian aid can possibly make opium poppy cultivation more attractive.