“It was between ten to 12 o’clock when my uncle’s wife went to bed. I told her not to lock the door of the house, my senses saying an earthquake might happen. I was sitting on my bed later when there was a boom. I jumped up to grab my two small children and then … Read more
Herat, Afghanistan, 7 November 2025- Since 5 November, local restrictions have been implemented in Herat province requiring female patients, caretakers, and staff to wear a burqa to enter public health facilities, including at Herat hospital. This sudden enforcement adds limitations to their participation in everyday life and puts additional barriers that affect women’s ability to … Read more
Balochistan, Pakistan- “Since the deportations were announced, we live in constant anxiety,” says an Afghan refugee and father of two girls, while he visits a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) clinic in Balochistan, Pakistan. He describes how Afghan refugee communities are gripped by fear. “We avoid going out due to fear of arrest. Families are afraid to … Read more
The sound of crying and beeping medical devices fills the small room. Nurses rush from bed to bed, checking vital signs. Mothers push oxygen masks onto the faces of their children. The emergency room doctor bursts through the swinging doors of the paediatric emergency room (ER) in Boost hospital in Helmand. I have 17 patients … Read more
Kunduz Province, Afghanistan- Shir Mohammad starts listing all the medical and non-medical devices that he and his team of technicians have built from scratch for the Kunduz Trauma Centre in northern Afghanistan. These include crutches, walkers, and even a stretcher that reduces the noise and vibration for patients when they’re being transported through the hospital. … Read more
Kabul, 12 March 2025 – Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams in Afghanistan have reported a surge in measles patients at three MSF-supported hospitals since January. While measles is endemic in Afghanistan, such a high number of cases so early in the year is cause for alarm. At least one child in Afghanistan has died from … Read more
More public awareness, stronger infection prevention control, better control of antibiotic use, and access to microbiology are important measures to address AMR Said Dawood, 24, is a construction worker in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz. © Abdulamin Shinwari/MSF For the last two weeks, Said Dawood has been stuck alone in an isolation room in … Read more
Public healthcare facilities, especially tertiary hospitals, such as the MSF-supported Mazar-i-Sharif Regional Hospital in the Balkh province, are struggling to cover essential running costs like staff salaries, medicines and medical supplies, fuel, and oxygen supply, due to the lack of long-term structural support for the health sector in Afghanistan. Mazar Regional Referral Hospital is the … Read more
Ten-month-old Bilal lies in bed at Mazar-i-Sharif regional hospital, in Afghanistan’s Balkh province, where he is being treated for measles and pneumonia, watched over by his mother Zakia. When Bilal fell ill with a fever, Zakia took him to one privately-run clinic after another, but his condition got worse. “In the beginning, he had a … Read more
“I really don’t know the pain she’s going through, but I am here with her hoping she gets better soon,” says Farida, the mother of nine-month-old Hadia. For two days, Hadia has refused to eat anything, even her favourite fruit, bananas. Her mother took her to several health facilities and doctors, but her condition never … Read more