94
HEALTH
Figure 9.5: Women with a live birth in the ive years preceding the survey who received maternal health care during their last pregnancy and who delivered
in institutional facilities, by survey
a
in percentages
10 20
30 40
50 60
MICS 2003
NRVA 2005
AHS 2006
NRVA 2007 -08
MICS 2010
NRVA 2011 -12
Ante -natal care Skilled birth attendance
Institutional delivery
a
NRVA 2011-12 uses births in the last ive years, MICS 2010 and 2003, AHS 2006 and NRVA 2007-08 and 2005 use births in the last two years. AHS uses births of only pregnant women, other
surveys use those of ever-married women.
95
HOUSING AND HOUSEHOLD AMENITIES
10 HOUSING AND HOUSEHOLD AMENITIES
SUMMARY.
The housing conditions of the Afghan population can be deined as poor, with large differences between urban and rural communities. However, several indicators show marked improvements.
Physical access to rural communities is often problematic, as around 14 percent of households there live in villages located more than 6 kilometres from the nearest drivable road. Only 14
percent of Afghans – 45 percent in urban areas and 5 percent in rural areas – live in a dwelling that can be considered durable. Just over one in three 37 percent live in an overcrowded dwelling,
and – taking water and sanitation conditions into account – 87 percent of urban dwellers 5.3 million people live in slum-like conditions of poverty and physical and environmental deprivation.
Overall, 46 and 8 percent of the population use improved drinking water sources and improved sanitation
facilities respectively. The igure for safe drinking water is a signiicant improvement compared to 2007-08, when it was only 27 percent. The situation improved in rural areas in particular, where the percentage using
improved sources increased from 20 2007-08 to 39. The situation with regard to sanitation improved slightly, but continues to be poor, with only 8 percent of the population having access to improved sanitation.
The still widespread lack of basic infrastructure for water and sanitation implies high risks of potentially fatal diseases, and is especially detrimental for the health and survival chances of infants and young children.
Health conditions in the household are further impaired by the use of solid fuels for cooking 80 percent and heating 97 percent. The lack of electricity is becoming less of an impediment for the effective spread
of information to the general public through mass media, like radio, TV and the internet, as 69 percent of households had access to some source of electricity in the month preceding the survey, compared to 42
percent in 2007-08, and only 23 percent in 2005. However, use of the internet is still virtually non-existent among the population only 5 per thousand people use the internet, while mobile phones are used by only
14 percent of the population up from 6 percent in 2007-08.
10.1 Introduction
The housing situation of a population is often a direct relection of their living conditions and socio-economic development. This chapter describes different housing characteristics, including the tenancy status section 10.2, building materials
10.3 and various facilities usually related to the housing situation, such as water supply and sanitation, but also available communication and information means section 10.4. Consequently, the chapter also covers several related
MDG indicators, including the access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.
10.2 Tenancy and dwelling characteristics 10.2.1 Tenancy
Tenancy arrangements showed little difference compared with NRVA 2007-08 and even with NRVA 2005. The large majority of urban and rural households 89 percent; 85 percent in 2007-08 and 2005 claim ownership of the house
where they live, by either inheritance or in family possession or given freely 59 percent, by purchase 12 percent, or by construction 18 percent
see Figure 10.1. The concentration in owned dwellings is even stronger in rural areas 95 percent, and here the share of dwellings inherited or in family possession is especially prominent. Renting and other
temporary tenancy arrangements hardly occur here. In urban areas, on the other hand, a more even distribution exits between dwellings in own possession still 72 percent and those occupied on the basis of more temporary arrangements
27 percent, such as care taking, mortgaging or living in a dwelling of a relative or friend. Due to the mobility and
continuous inlux of new residents in urban areas, the share of inheritance is lower here 37 percent than in rural areas 68 percent and the share of purchased and rented dwellings is higher both 22 percent. As can be seen in
Figure 10.1, renting is an almost exclusively urban phenomenon. The categories of tenancy used are less appropriate to describe
the situation in the Kuchi population.
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HOUSING AND HOUSEHOLD AMENITIES
Figure 10.1: Households, by tenancy status, and by residence in percentages
10 20
30 40
50 60
70
Urban Rural
National 37
68 59
22 7
12 13
20 18
22 1
6 5
4 4
1
Inherited or given Purchased dwelling
Constructed dwelling Renting
Other temporary arrangement Other arrangement
10.2.2 Dwelling characteristics
A typical Afghan house is made of mud brick walls and a mud roof 64 and 63 percent, respectively and has an earthen loor 86 percent Table 10.1. Urban houses somewhat deviate from this general picture in the sense that concrete is
a more common building material. Thereby, these dwellings provide more durable shelter than the traditional Afghan house. Kuchi households – for 70 percent living in tents – have, as expected, a very different pattern of building materials.
Dwellings for which the walls, the roof and the loor are all mainly constructed of durable materials – ired brick, stone, concrete or tiles, and wood for the roof – are considered durable dwellings. According to this deinitions only in urban
areas is a sizable proportion of the households living in a durable dwelling 45 percent. The distribution of the number of rooms per dwelling is fairly similar for urban and rural households. Around one-third of
these dwellings have two rooms and close to another 40 percent has three or four rooms Table 10.2, panel a. Kuchi
dwellings usually consist of one or two tents.
97
HOUSING AND HOUSEHOLD AMENITIES
Table 10.1: Households, by residence, and by construction material for a walls, b roofs and c floors in percentages
Construction material and dwelling durability
Residence Urban
Rural Kuchi
National
a. Construction material of walls
Fired brickstone 20.8
3.6 1.0
7.3 Concrete
9.9 0.5
0.0 2.6
Mud bricksmud 60.5
68.4 20.1
63.9 Stonemud
8.4 26.4
8.1 21.4
Other 0.4
1.0 70.8
4.8 Total
100.0 100.0
100.0 100.0
b. Construction material of roof
Concrete 17.0
1.2 0.0
4.7 Wood
28.0 26.8
4.4 25.8
Mud bricksmud 51.7
69.7 24.3
63.1 Other
3.3 2.4
71.3 6.4
Total 100.0
100.0 100.0
100.0
c. Construction material of floor
Mudearth 53.6
94.5 100.0
85.6 Concretetile
44.8 4.6
0.0 13.4
Other 1.5
0.9 0.0
1.0 Total
100.0 100.0
100.0 100.0
d. Durability of dwelling
Percentage durable 44.8
4.9 0.0
14.2
Overcrowding is a manifestation of housing inequality and is also a hidden form of homelessness. UN-Habitat deines overcrowding as dwellings with more than three persons per room UN-Habitat 2007. The effects of overcrowding include
an increased risk of disease transmission for a wide range of respiratory diseases, including pneumonia, tuberculosis and many allergies and negative social behaviours, such as domestic violence and child abuse, and negative outcomes
of education and child development. NRVA 2011-12 shows that 37 percent of all households in Afghanistan live in such overcrowded dwellings
Table 10.2, panel b. For Kuchi households, the share is even 70 percent. Overcrowding and durability of dwellings, together with
access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation see section 10.3.1 below, are four criteria
1
that determine if an urban household is deined as a slum
household. The MDG indicator 7.10 for environmental sustainability that is based on this deinition is the
percentage of urban population that lives in slum households. In the NRVA 2011-12 a percentage of 87 percent was found for this indicator, which represents 5.3 million people.
1 The ifth criterion – secure tenure – was not considered in NRVA 2011-12.
MDG Indicator 7.10
Percentage of urban population living in slums
86.6 percent
