Emergency and Humanitarian Action, February 2018

Bird flu continued to be the main challenge for the west region in February 2018. Initially in January, bird flu was found in 4 farms, but the disease has now spread to several hundred poultry farms. As a result 460 000 chicken were disposed from affected farms.
The deteriorated security situation has resulted in the closure of several health facilities: two in Kandahar (Maruf Comprehensive Health Centre (CHC) and Nish CHC) and one in Urozgan province (Oshey CHC).
At the same time, Speen Jomat Basic Health Center (BHC) is the only open facility in Chaparhar district. Mobile health services have been used by partners to cover the vulnerable population.
Active fighting resulted in internal displacement of people in the Southern region, where in February alone 139 IDP families were identified in Kandahar, 489 in Urozgan and 205 in Helmand.
Measles outbreaks have been the major public health issues of concern with low routine immunization coverage reported as one of the main causes.