Footnotes

• Contributors LMRS and JAB contributed equally in study conception, data analyses and result interpretation. Both authors read the final text before submission.

• Competing interests LMRS works in Première Urgence Aide Médicale Internationale, which is an International Non-Governmental Organisation having provided healthcare services in the three provinces of Afghanistan. The authors have identified no conflict of interests.

• Disclaimer The interpretations of presented data reflect authors’ views and did not represent the standpoint of their affiliated or the data reporting institutions.

• Ethics approval Study is based on the analyses of de-nominalized administrative dataset. The research plan was approved by PU-AMI.

• Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.