[{"bbox": [183, 152, 1084, 211], "category": "List-item", "text": "- Any delivery of assistance must be done in direct support of the Afghan people and for the continued provision of basic services and livelihoods."}, {"bbox": [146, 222, 1084, 309], "category": "Text", "text": "In that context, the EU and its EU Member States have an interest to ensure a 'Team Europe' approach encompassing both humanitarian and direct basic needs and livelihoods assistance that helps to strike that balance."}, {"bbox": [146, 321, 1086, 525], "category": "Text", "text": "**The rationale for a direct basic needs and livelihoods assistance approach.** Until 15 August 2021, external support accounted for 75% of the Government's budget and half of Afghanistan's GDP. International donors have financed the main national programme providing access to health services. Donor-funded Basic Packages of Health Services and Essential Packages of Hospital Services have so far been delivered in 31 of the 34 provinces, and implemented by NGOs selected through a procurement process. Only in three provinces has the government provided the health services directly."}, {"bbox": [146, 536, 1086, 770], "category": "Text", "text": "In 2020, the education budget was highly dependent on external aid. The total budget reported by the Ministry of Education was AFN 34 billion (around EUR 386.29 million), 95% of which was spent on salaries as reported by UNICEF. External aid has provided vital support to agriculture, given the high reliance of poor, rural populations on agricultural production and processing (around 40% of Afghans are employed in agriculture). This shows the dependence of the country's systems on external aid to deliver basic services and sustain livelihoods, and how a \"direct basic needs and livelihoods assistance\" approach could keep these systems functioning for the benefit of the population."}, {"bbox": [146, 780, 1086, 898], "category": "Text", "text": "\"Direct basic needs and livelihoods assistance\" assistance informally refers to actions that address directly (without government intermediation or interference) basic human needs and livelihoods of local populations in crisis and emergency situations, to avoid unnecessary additional suffering of the population, in complementarity with humanitarian assistance."}, {"bbox": [146, 950, 339, 978], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# Essential Services"}, {"bbox": [146, 991, 370, 1020], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Health and nutrition"}, {"bbox": [146, 1032, 1084, 1092], "category": "Text", "text": "International assistance to Afghanistan has supported rapid improvements in health outcomes over the past two decades."}, {"bbox": [146, 1103, 1086, 1336], "category": "Text", "text": "The network of health facilities is organised in several models, delivering different levels of services. Those models are classified according to the services they provide and the way they are financed. Much progress has been made, especially in expansion of coverage and utilisation of health services. Implementation of standardised basic packages has resulted in rapid expansion of health services to remote and insecure areas. This modality has also provided implementing NGOs with autonomy and flexibility. Many key health indicators have improved rapidly, for example, maternal and child mortality have dropped significantly between 2003 and 2021. Life expectancy at birth has increased from 56 years in 2000 to 65.3 years in 2021."}, {"bbox": [146, 1347, 1073, 1378], "category": "Text", "text": "Despite this progress, Afghanistan's health indicators are still among the worst in the region:"}, {"bbox": [183, 1389, 1084, 1474], "category": "List-item", "text": "- The maternal mortality rate is estimated as 620 per 100,000 live births, the infant mortality rate 47.5 per 1,000 live births and the under-five mortality rate 60.3 per 1,000 live births;"}, {"bbox": [183, 1489, 1084, 1574], "category": "List-item", "text": "- Around 10% of population (mainly living in rural areas and internally displaced persons' (IDPs') camps) have no access to health services within 2 hours and 43% must travel more than half an hour;"}, {"bbox": [1069, 1641, 1084, 1664], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "6"}]