Kabul, 18 August 2018 - Since fighting broke out on 10 August in Ghazni, Central Afghanistan, World Health Organization (WHO) has provided 1 trauma kits and 3 Interagency Emergency Health kit to support emergency health and medical services to treat the wounded at the provincial hospital, supporting 3000 patients who urgently need health services in...

Kabul, 5 August 2018 – The Ministry of Public Health in Afghanistan, together with UNICEF and WHO, will launch its third national polio vaccination campaign for 2018. Over the next five days, around 9.9 million children under the age of five will be targeted for vaccination against polio across the country. However, 1.2 million children from areas...

Kabul, 2 August 2018 - In Afghanistan, an increasing amount of health workers have been killed in attacks targeting health facilities and personnel in the first half of 2018, compared to the previous six months, reports Health Cluster. A total number of seven health personnel were killed January and June this year, compared to three who were...

The new emergency ward was inaugurated 30 June 2018Kabul, 9 July 2018 – WHO has planned and supported the upgrading of trauma care services at the Provincial Hospital of Kapisa, a high-risk conflict-affected province. The project, which started in November 2017, included construction and equipping of the emergency ward and the operation theatre and...

Kabul, 4 July 2018 Doctor listening to a tuberculosis patient’s lungsWith the support of the Government of Japan,  World Health Organization Afghanistan has contributed to the significant strengthening of Afghanistan’s capacity to detect and treat tuberculosis (TB), a potentially serious communicable disease, which continues to be a major public health...

Kabul, 2 July 2018 – A new polio case has been reported in Helmand province. A three-year-old child from Nad-e-Ali district, an area inaccessible to vaccination teams in May, has been affected and will be permanently paralyzed. During the last national vaccination campaign, vaccination bans were in place in Helmand, Urozgan and Kandahar,...

This baby of a returnee family was born safely in the Torkham border in November 2017 with the assistance of skilled midwives. Photo by David Lai / WHO Afghanistan The recent wave of returnees and the large number of internally displaced people (IDPs) is posing a further challenge on already stretched health care facilities and health care...

Mobile team provides health services to displaced people. Photo: David LaiKabul, 15 June 2018 – The lives of a million people are critically affected by drought in Afghanistan.  Another 2 million people could be affected in the coming months.   Food insecurity and reduced access to safe water are beginning to take their toll in the 10 worst...

Kabul, 5 June 2018 – The WHO-supported Kabul hospital, operated by the Italian nongovernmental organization EMERGENCY, has reported the busiest month in its operation's history. In May 2018, the hospital counted 421 admissions, of which 409 were war-related injuries. Programme Coordinator Dejan Panic stated that the organization was alarmed. “We have never had...

Dr Najibullah Mojadidi, Presidential Focal Point for Polio Eradication. Photo: Tuuli HongistoKabul, 4 June 2018 – The Technical Advisory Group for polio eradication (TAG) met 30–31 May to assess progress made towards eradicating polio in Afghanistan so far and to make recommendations for the way forward. In his opening remarks, Dr Najibullah Mojadidi,...