Western Afghanistan has experienced three 6.3-magnitude earthquakes and many aftershocks in less than two weeks in October. Together, the quakes and aftershocks have killed more than 2,000 people. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is supporting Herat Regional Hospital, which has received hundreds of injured patients since the first quake. How MSF supports Herat Regional … Read more
No humanitarian organization can deliver assistance at full capacity without female staff Yesterday the IEA notified the UN that no Afghan woman is permitted to work for the UN in Afghanistan, and that this measure will be actively enforced. This decision extends the directive previously announced on 24 December 2022, banning Afghan women working for … Read more
Kabul, 6 February 2023 – A dysfunctional health system, widespread poverty, and increased restrictions placed on women are at the heart of the current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, according to a new report published by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today. Policymakers, donors and local authorities must urgently focus on strengthening primary medical care at district … Read more
The future of female patients and health workers in Afghanistan is being threatened by the recent decree issued by the Ministry of Economy prohibiting women from working for non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Though health workers, including MSF staff, are currently exempted from the ban, there is no formal assurance that they will be able to continue … Read more
After months of continuous restrictions placed on the female population of Afghanistan, limitations placed on their participation in everyday life, access to education, and most recently even the right to work for non-governmental organisations, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) strongly condemns the Islamic Emirate’s erasure of women from social life in the country. “More than 51% … Read more
MSF staff continues to treat high numbers of patients for a wide range of health conditions in Afghanistan. In September, we assisted over 3,758 deliveries, admitted 905 severely malnourished children to our facilities, and provided ambulatory nutrition treatment to 989 children, pregnant women or women who had recently given birth. And while our main focus … Read more
Following the earthquake that struck Khost and Paktika provinces in Afghanistan on the night of 21-22 June, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) sent teams made up of medical and logistical staff to the worst-affected areas. Hundreds of people are thought to have been killed, over a thousand wounded, and many homes have been destroyed and damaged. In Bermal, … Read more
Her name was Tahera*. She had been brought to the MSF-supported Herat Regional Hospital the day before by her parents; with a red, blotchy rash spreading down her little body. After being assessed by our medical team she was admitted to our measles intensive care unit where we already had close to 50 patients although, … Read more
The violence in Afghanistan has surged since May with fighting around and inside provincial capitals between the Afghan forces and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, also known as the Taliban). This is impeding access to medical care, increasing the number of people killed and wounded by bullets and explosions, and causing widespread displacement. In three areas … Read more
In the days following the attack on the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)-supported Dasht-e-Barchi hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, it has become clear that what happened on 12 May was a deliberate assault on a maternity hospital with the purpose of killing mothers in cold blood. “I went back the day after the attack and what I saw in the … Read more