Topic: 2024-Gender Equality in Rural Areas
Country: Afghanistan
Delegate Name: Isha Oberoi
The delegation of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is committed to a fiscally sustainable advancement of infrastructure to lessen gender inequality in rural areas. We recommend the use of the International Monetary Fund’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust to financially lead the efforts in advancing underdeveloped infrastructures. The underdeveloped infrastructure to be improved include (but are not limited to), the improvement of irrigation canals, roads, flood defenses, sanitation, telecommunications, transportation and water access. In addition to underdeveloped infrastructure, there are different aspects of rural life that discriminate against women in a plethora of other ways, such as-women’s role in agriculture and access to and understanding of medical care. Access to medical care in rural areas is not easy to attain. Increasing availability of medical health is of top priority to lessen the inequality in rural areas.
Agriculture
Globally, women working in agriculture will increase the individual farm output by at least an exponential 30%. This uptake in farm output will help to alleviate the cost of living crisis by lessening the international poverty thus, causing a decrease in inflation world-wide. Strengthening the agricultural industry by adding more jobs and employing more women who have been taught agricultural skills in those jobs to create a source of income for themselves. This will help with the extensive poverty, regrow war-torn regions, and help grow national economies, especially those of developing nations.
Increasing health literacy
The World Health Organization defines health literacy as “representing the personal knowledge and competencies that accumulate through daily activities, social interactions and across generations. Personal knowledge and competencies are mediated by the organizational structures and availability of resources that enable people to access, understand, appraise, and use information and services in ways that promote and maintain good health and well-being for themselves and those around them.” Improving health literacy is vital to promoting a health conscious society that can make informed decisions on their own health. To achieve this improvement, health organizations (local and international), need to address the education gap and accessibility of health care. Many people are not familiar with medical terms and personal anatomy, and statistical evaluations of risks and benefits that affect health. They struggle with understanding diagnoses, making important decisions on health under stress, understanding self-care for health conditions, and accessing trustworthy and accurate medical information. Especially for women in rural areas, it is challenging to receive medical care and health insurance in the first place. This is especially difficult for women because with the little care that is available to them, reproductive and sexual health care typically is not. By improving health literacy, women in rural areas will have access to more resources which encourages the gender equality we are all striving for.
Mobile clinics/ERs
The World Health Organization regularly deploys mobile clinics for people who otherwise would not be able to access medical care. These people usually reside in rural areas. These mobile clinics are vital in times of humanitarian crises and with the unending crisis of gender inequality in rural areas, the number of these clinics needs to be increased to combat these crises.
