HEALTHCARE IN AFGHANISTAN

Baltimore

Naomi Klein's May 2 "Lookout" column contains a mind-blowing statement: "In Afghanistan, where the World Bank also administers the country's aid through a trust fund, it has already managed to privatize healthcare by refusing to give funds to the Ministry of Health to build hospitals. Instead it funnels money directly to nongovernmental organizations, which are running their own private health clinics on three-year contracts." Klein obviously thinks building hospitals would be preferable to providing primary healthcare. Building hospitals to serve the urban elite rather than primary healthcare facilities to serve the rural poor was an early fault of the World Bank and other aid agencies. Now that the bank is finally addressing needs of the rural poor, Klein wants to see money diverted to hospitals to serve the rich and powerful. This casts doubt on the validity of her entire column.

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