Management Sciences for Health (MSH) began working in Afghanistan in 1973 with a six-year program to strengthen the Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health and promote the use of village health workers. This experience is described in Managing Health Systems in Developing Areas. MSH was forced to stop work in Afghanistan soon after the Soviet invasion, but returned in 1986 to implement a major USAID-funded program based in Peshawar, Pakistan. That project, described in Health Care in Muslim Asia: Development and Disorder in Wartime Afghanistan, provided training, support, and monitoring for over 300 health facilities in Afghanistan until USAID support for post-Soviet-era projects ended.

In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, and following US military assistance in ousting the Taliban government, MSH again was asked to return to Afghanistan to provide technical assistance to the Afghan Ministry of Public Health. From July to September 2002, MSH conducted the Afghanistan National Health Resources Assessment to obtain an accurate picture of available Afghan health services and health professionals. With the data from this survey, MSH assisted Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health in developing a basic package of health services, with particular focus on Afghan maternal and child health. The REACH Program evolved from and built upon these foundational activities of MSH in Afghanistan.

In addition to the current USAID-funded REACH Program, MSH is also supporting efforts to increase contraceptive practice in Afghanistan using private funds provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The Hewlett project in Afghanistan entails undertaking qualitative assessments, enhancing Afghan reproductive health practices, and increasing advocacy efforts to complement the REACH activities.