AFGHANISTAN

In 2024, over half the Afghan population was in need of humanitarian assistance. Rising unemployment, falling incomes, increased debt and higher prices for basic products like food and fuel have forced households to reduce their spending on essential services, such as education and healthcare. Rural areas are particularly badly affected by the deteriorating economy and hunger and malnutrition are widespread.

Furthermore, population growth, internal displacement and higher than usual rates of cross-border returns put increased pressure on limited resources, livelihood opportunities and basic services.

Afghanistan is one of the countries most at risk from natural disasters, particularly earthquakes, drought and flooding which threaten the survival of around 31 million people whose livelihoods depend on agriculture.

Water resources are becoming ever more limited due to below average precipitation since 2020. Drought has triggered internal displacements and is also a contributing factor in food insecurity and epidemics. Desertification has affected over 75% of the total area of the country’s northern, western and southern regions over the last forty years, reducing vegetation cover on grazing land, accelerating soil degradation and impacting crops. At the same time, many parts of Afghanistan are regularly hit by flooding, especially in the north and east.

When the Taliban came to power in 2021, international aid, especially for the health system, was cut. This had far-reaching repercussions, with ongoing epidemics of communicable diseases, unmet maternal and infant health needs and increased levels of malnutrition, contributing to significant mortality and morbidity.

Winter is harsh in Afghanistan and the most vulnerable groups, particularly children under the age of five and older people, suffer from respiratory infections that spread rapidly, while snow often obstructs access to the few healthcare facilities that are still open and functioning.

Women and children face innumerable barriers to access to healthcare and mortality rates for mothers and children under five in Afghanistan are the highest in the world.

As a consequence of this desperate need for protection and against a background of conflict, over half the population is affected by psychosocial distress and one in five people are experiencing changes to their day-to-day functioning as a result of exposure to traumatic events.

Wardak Province is a key central province of Afghanistan and Médecins du Monde is now providing financial and technical support to two new health centres and a mobile clinic there, in partnership with a local organisation which works with Kuchi nomadic communities.

Through these new projects Médecins du Monde has been able to focus on nutrition screening for children under the age of five and pregnant and breastfeeding women and improving access to nutritional treatments. We have delivered training on this topic to 8 healthcare professionals and screened 1,150 children under the age of five for malnutrition.

Médecins du Monde is supporting a local Afghan midwives’ association which works within health centres to improve the quality of midwifery services. The work also seeks to increase patient trust, provide better care in the event of complications, increase the number of births attended by qualified staff, reduce mortality rates and establish strong collaborative relationships between midwives and health centres.

In 2024, skilled staff attended 5,226 births and 3,290 family planning consultations were provided, as well as 13,890 antenatal and 7,547 postnatal consultations.

Médecins du Monde is supporting a community organisation that promotes harm reduction for people who use drugs, including women, and runs drop-in centres in Kabul.