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Archived Document
Priority 3. Provide humanitarian assistance for extremely vulnerable people, including refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons.
For this priority, Canada’s objective, by the end of 2011, is for humanitarian assistance to be accessible to the most vulnerable people, including Afghan refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons in Kandahar and nationwide.
The confidence of the Afghan people in their government is influenced by its ability to provide emergency relief and protection in times of crisis. In this quarter, Canada met its target to support Kandahar’s Provincial Disaster Management Committee, composed of key Afghan ministries and the ANSF, in establishing effective disaster response plans.
Canada also provided funding to deploy a technical advisor to the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, who is providing policy and planning advice for the development of a new strategic framework to manage essential health services. Canada continued to assist the Ministry of Public Health to improve access to medicines by putting in place quality control mechanisms across the supply and distribution chain.
Canada’s signature project to eradicate polio in Afghanistan continued in this quarter, with three vaccination campaigns reaching over 366,000 Kandahari children. Seven new cases of polio were reported in Afghanistan, bringing the total to 25 for 2010. This figure is lower than the 38 cases reported in 2009.
To improve effective coordination of this signature project, cross-border meetings on polio eradication continued in this quarter between the Afghan and Pakistani Ministries of Public Health. The meetings serve as a platform for sharing information on methods of improving vaccination campaign quality and joint planning between the two countries.
These young women are part of the Community
Midwifery Education Program. Having more
midwives improves the chances of survival for
Afghan women. Improving access to trained
health care professionals is one of Canada's
efforts in Afghanistan.
Canada’s largest humanitarian partner in Afghanistan, the World Food Programme (WFP), continued to implement measures to improve the country’s food security. One example of the WFP’s efforts is the Purchase for Progress program that buys wheat from smallholder farmers for distribution in other regions of the country, thereby strengthening those farmers’ access to Afghan grain markets.
Canada’s investments in mine action in Afghanistan continued to produce strong results. Targets established for mine risk education and the release of contaminated land are surpassed each quarter. Canada’s commitment to the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Mine Action is supported by institutional capacity building within the Mine Action Program for Afghanistan.
