Like every other year, World Health Day was celebrated on April 07 in many countries around the world this year as well. The basic objective of the day was to draw attention worldwide to the subject of global health and the challenges faced by different people around the world to maintain good health conditions.
This year the theme of the day was ‘Depression: Let’s talk!” As per the observations made by World Health Organization (WHO), depression influences people of all age groups; belonging to different walks of life and different countries in the world. It the basic reason of mental anguish and may also influence people’s ability to carry out their simple daily tasks properly. In certain cases, it even results in ruptures in relationships and the failure to earn a living. In worst scenario it can lead to suicide. Statistics show that it is now the second leading cause of death among 15-29 year old people. 
Good health is one of the most important considerations for the human beings today. And, a healthy life guarantees an active and better life. With the advancements in science and technology and particularly in medicine and medical facilities, human beings should have been able to control or completely eradicate many diseases. However, that has not been the case and serious issues still persist.
Mostly, it has nothing to do with the incapacity of human beings to deal with these diseases. There have been many major breakthroughs in the medical field and most of the diseases can be cured easily by the doctors, but the main issue is of sociological and political nature. Unfortunately, there are many who do not have access to medical facilities as most of the medical facilities have been privatized and only privilaged class can have access to them. The poor people around the world can never even think about those facilities.
Only some of the countries have managed to provide quality health facilities through government programs while the rest still have very expensive doctors, medicines and facilities. The underdeveloped and developing countries suffer the most in this regard.
Afghanistan is one of the countries that are suffering from the dearth of better medical facilities for most of its people. The health facilities are not proper and most of the diseases that people suffer from stay untreated even in the large cities of the country. At the same time, the quality of services provided by government hospitals is really very low, their number is not sufficient and they are not established in most of the remote areas; therefore, most of the people do not have access to them. On the other hand private hospitals have been established that can, in no way, be afforded by the people who do not have enough food to eat.
Most of the people are compelled to go to other countries for treatment. They mostly go to the neighboring countries like India and Pakistan and there again they have to spend a large sum of money. Apart from the health services they avail they have to pay for the travel expenses as well. If there are such facilities provided in the country, the people would never require to go out and would not take money out of the country as well. However, it is important to note that such facilities can only be acquired by the rich people. As the ruling class in our society can pay for those facilities they mostly do not care whether the poor people in the country can have better access to health facilities.
Such a scenario is really dreadful and there should be serious efforts to deal with the situation. Short term projects will never solve the health issues in Afghanistan. Afghan government and the supporting nations must pursue long-term strategies to handle the issue, if they want to help the people of Afghanistan.
At the same time, corruption and loose control, regarding the quality of medicine that is sold in the country, is another major issue, which is responsible for further debilitating the health of the people instead of supporting them during their ill health.
Some investigations regarding the health issues in country have clearly shown that that though millions of dollars have been poured into the health sector, there are many Afghans who have their nearest health center at a distance of three days and unfortunately two-thirds of pharmacies do not have professional staff. Such a scenario is really dreadful and worth special attention; moreover, only lip service would do no good to change the scenario. Therefore, the authoritative people must take necessary measures and must curb the situation as the issue is very delicate and it is related to the lives of the people. Carelessness in this regard is a type of indirect murder.