PRESS RELEASES

Here you will find the latest news about SCA activities in the field. For further information, please view our archive

SCA Women's Day Appeal: "Mother and child health care in desperate need of funds"

Kabul, 7 March 2003

Afghanistan has the highest maternal morbidity and mortality rates in the world. According to a recent UN study, an estimated 1,700 women die per 100,000 live births. The country's infant mortality rate is also extreme, with over 165 deaths per 1,000 births (compared to just seven deaths per thousand in the United States). One in four Afghan children dies before reaching the age of five.

To improve the health of women and children the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan currently supports 40 specialised mother and child health care (MCH) clinics in rural areas in eastern, northern and south-eastern Afghanistan. During 2002, at least 18,400 women received antenatal care through the SCA health programme, some 2,500 deliveries were attended in MCH clinics and more than 3,000 women received postnatal care.

The clinics also offer information about family planning and general health care. Trained community health workers visit women in their homes in the villages. During 2002, approximately 80,000 Afghan women were educated in reproductive health by SCA.

Yet these efforts are just a fraction of what is needed to save women's lives in Afghanistan.

SCA therefore plans to increase the number of MCH clinics from 40 to 67 by the end of 2003. But more resources are needed. On International Women's Day, March 8, we are launching a fundraising campaign for mother and child health care.

We hereby appeal for your support for Afghan women's right to life. By contributing to the SCA health care programme you can help save the lives of many women and children, needlessly dying every day in the rural areas of Afghanistan.


Lena Hjelm-Wallén,
Chairperson, Swedish Committee for Afghanistan

For contributions:
Bank transfer to: Svenska Handelsbanken, P.O Box 7045, 103 86 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
Swift Code HANDSESS, Sort Code: 6111, Account: 169 518 612
Holder of Account: Swedish Committee for Afghanistan
Or
Send a bank draft in favour of: Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, Trekantsvägen 1, 6th floor, S-117 43 Stockholm, SWEDEN

For more information please contact:
The Information Unit, Swedish Committee for Afghanistan
++92 (0)91 844340 / ++92 (0)91 841879, infosca@brain.net.pk / scainfocoord@brain.net.pk

The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan moves to Kabul after 21 years in Peshawar

Kabul, 6 March 2003

This week the central management office of the Swedish Committee (SCA) is relocating from University town, Peshawar - to a new compound off Chicken Street, in the very heart of Kabul.

On Monday 3 March a convoy of 14 heavily loaded trucks left Peshawar and set out on the bumpy road through the Khyber pass. The following day, approximately 90 members of SCA's Afghan staff crowded into busses and pickups bound for the capital of a country most of them fled many years ago.

- This is a historic move. We have been waiting for this moment for 21 years. We almost moved in during the early 90s, but that time we were stopped by the escalating civil war. Now we strongly believe things have changed, there is a legitimate government and security in the capital is good, says Peter Bulling, acting Country Director of SCA.
 
The vast majority of SCA's Afghan staff previously based in Pakistan will move with the office. Although most are happy to be returning to their home country, there are concerns about high rents in Kabul and poor schooling opportunities and many are therefore leaving their families behind.

- We know this is difficult for many of our Afghan colleagues. But everyone realises that SCA, being one of the oldest and most established NGOs in the fields of education and health, needs to be based in Kabul to in order to cooperate closely with the new ministries and other organisations at this crucial point in time, says Peter Bulling.

Only a small liaison office headed by Pakistani staff will remain on Chinar Road, dealing with procurement of supplies, logistics and finance.

The new office address:
SCA
Zarghona Maidan Street, opposite Jamhoriat Hospital
Kabul, Afghanistan.
Phone: ++93 (0)702 94144

All SCA Brain.net email addresses will remain the same.

A liaison office will remain in Peshawar on:
27 A Chinar Road, University Town, Peshawar
Email: adminpw@brain.net.pk
Fax  ++92 91  840519
Phone ++92 91  844380
For more information, please contact the SCA Information Unit:
Email: infosca@brain.net.pk / scainfocoord@brain.net.pk

SCA condemns armed attack on school consultants

Peshawar, 2 March, 2003

On Saturday 1 March an SCA Toyota pickup was attacked in Tangi, Wardak province, between Ghazni and Kabul. Armed men fired several shots at the vehicle, which was carrying equipment for a teachers training course, two SCA school consultants and a driver. No person was injured in the attack, which is believed to have been specifically targeted at foreigners and NGO property. Although there were valuables in the car, the attackers took nothing. Instead they ordered the school consultants to leave the car and drove to a remote area were they attempted to burn the vehicle.

- This attack is utterly despicable and unacceptable. It is the second time in 21 years that SCA staff has been attacked, but we cannot tolerate one such incident! It hampers our work in the field and threatens our teachers training programme, a crucial step in our efforts to improve education in Afghanistan, says Peter Bulling, acting Country Director of SCA.

The incident resembles an attack a few days earlier on a WFP car in Wazakhawa, Paktika province. UNHCR reports that on February 27 armed men fired at the WFP vehicle but stopped shooting when they discovered that there were no foreigners in the vehicle.

Lars Grebius, regional director for SCA activities in the southern provinces, says he has decided to cancel planned visits to Paktia and Paktika following the attacks.

- The Swedish Committee condemns these acts and calls for a thorough investigation into the events. We are deeply concerned for the safety of our staff and fear that we may be forced to downscale activities in the area. The regional director has been recalled to Kabul for further consultations. Once again, we appeal to the international community to expand its presence outside the capital in order to improve security in the rural areas and to prevent similar attacks from taking place in the future, says Peter Bulling, acting Country Director.


The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan supports 485 primary schools and a total of almost 240 000 students in rural areas of the northern, eastern and south-eastern provinces of Afghanistan. Approximately 27 % of the students are girls.

For more information, please contact:

Natasha Brieger, Information Coordinator
Peter Bulling, Acting Country Director (mobile: ++92 (0)300 859 3354)
Swedish Committee for Afghanistan
Tel ++92  (0)91 844 380/ ++92 (0)91 841 879
Email: infosca@brain.net.pk / scainfocoord@brain.net.pk