The official inaugural ceremony of Afghan-Japan Communicable Disease Hospital in the Darul Aman area took place on January 18, 2014 with the participation of H.E. Dr. Suraya Dalil, Minister of Public Health and H.E. Mr. Takao Makino, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan.
The ceremony was also attended by some officials of Japan’s embassy, in charges of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), some parliament members and a numbers of health development partners.
Japan built the Afghan-Japan Communicable Disease Hospital through its grant aide totalling USD 28 million. The hospital features an 80-bed facility for tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS, as well as a laboratory with state-of-the-art diagnostic technology such as digital X-ray machines. The hospital will also provide health services for outpatients.
In Afghanistan, communicable diseases are leading causes of death. In particular, TB remains a serious threat. Afghanistan is one of the 22 countries worst affected by TB. It is estimated that 70,000 new TB cases are found each year, resulting in 20,000 casualties annually.
In recent years, the number of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) TB patients has been growing due to improper medical prescription by physicians and/or cessation of treatment by patients. Because MDR-TB is resistant to ordinary TB drug, it takes longer to cure and needs a special treatment. This Afghan-Japan Hospital is the only facility in the country that can hospitalize MDR-TB patients in private rooms and treat them under the direct observation of trained health care staff.
Since 1974, Japan has been continuously working with National TB programme through JICA in Afghanistan, providing capacity building trainings for health care staff of Ministry of Public Health and local hospitals in close collaboration with WHO and Global Fund.
H.E. Dr. Suraya said that “Communicable diseases are major threats to the people of Afghanistan. This hospital will provide facilities for treatment of resistance TB cases, complicated malaria and HIV/AIDS in the country. We are grateful to the contribution of the government of Japan on this.”
H.E. Mr. Makino expressed his hope that the Hospital will lay a foundation for health and medical services in this country, as it will provide a strong base for combating communicable disease. Japan remains determined to contribute to building a peaceful and stable Afghanistan in close cooperation with the Afghanistan government and the international community.”
