Case Study

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Studying in Afghanistan: A First-hand Account by a Pioneering Distance Learning Student

Dr Aqila Noori completed her MSc in Public Health with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2008. Dr Noori studied by distance learning in her home country Afghanistan, where she is currently working as Senior Co-ordinator for Technical Affairs in the Ministry of Public Health.

Dr Noori said: "The health status of the approximately 25 million Afghans is among the worst in the world. The poor health status of women and children is exacerbated by a very high fertility rate and low contraceptive prevalence. For example, the Maternal Mortality Ratio is the highest in the world except for Sierra Leone."

Word-of-mouth recommendations
"I registered with LSHTM as an external student for MSc Health Systems Management in 2003. I was greatly keen and was in dire need to equip myself with new and advanced knowledge in this area. I was encouraged to study with LSHTM by a colleague, Dr Gyuri Fritsch, who was from the Netherlands and had freshly completed an MSc in Health Systems Management from LSHTM as a fulltime student in London. Dr Gyuri encouraged me and some of my staff to apply for MSc HSM and MSc Epidemiology. Our admission encouraged a number of doctors in other organisations and the Ministry of Health to apply for study at LSHTM. In a way we were the pioneers of distance learning in Afghanistan.

"During the first year of my study I could not appear in the examination, because as well as shouldering responsibility of managing a huge health program I had to take care of my two-month-old child. I transferred from HSM to Public Health and besides my full time job and my responsibility of caring for three children; I completed my MSc in Public Health in four years. It was a difficult job juggling my work commitments, three young children and my studies, but I remained quite motivated despite security threats and concerns.

Affordable postgraduate study
"The primary reason for my motivation was that this was the only feasible and affordable way for me to get a postgraduate qualification. There were scholarship opportunities in the US and the UK but due to children and family I could not avail myself of these opportunities. Another reason for my motivation was observing the difference between those colleagues who had postgraduate qualifications versus those that had not, in terms of depth and broadness of their approach for resolving a problem and richness of their scientific arguments and discussion. I knew that to occupy a senior position in the Afghan Public Health Sector at either the Ministry, or any NGO or donor agency, you need to have a good postgraduate qualification."

Immense challenges
Studying by distance learning is a challenge anywhere in the world, let alone somewhere as politically unstable country as Afghanistan. Dr Noori explained: “As weekends, government holidays and Eid holidays were the only convenient time for me to study, I was not able to visit my relatives or attend weddings or other family functions. I had to sacrifice my social and leisure time to complete my study.

"The worsening security situation in Afghanistan affects every aspect of life negatively. Usually when we go to work in the morning we do not know whether we will get back to home alive or not. Also, during all the four years of my study even Kabul had electricity only for four hours at each night. There was no power supply after 10:00pm. This was the only free and quiet time for me to study. I had to study either using gas light or had to charge the emergency lights. But I really enjoyed these four years of study despite the difficulties.

Rewards of distance learning
"After completion of my MSc I noticed a great change in my technical knowledge. My approach has become much broader and rich. To complete an MSc degree to international standards in somewhere like Afghanistan involves a lot of effort and courage on behalf of a student, but the encouraging and motivating approach of the LSHTM distance learning team proved an inspiring force in my study completion.

"At the end I would like to thank London University, the leadership of LSHTM Distance Learning Programme and all those who were involved in making this programme available to students who could not study in a regular programme either due to family or financial reasons. I hope this programme can continue forever and can serve and equip students living in remote areas of the world with quality postgraduate education."

Dr Aqila Noori was speaking to Alice Perry, Alumni Relations Manager at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

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