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WHO trains 2800 health care providers to respond to gender-based violence
Habiba Jaffari wanted to become a midwife to help women in her community. WHO/S.RamoKabul 12 September 2017 – “I have been working as a midwife for 7 years but I didn’t know much about gender-based violence (GBV) before this training. Now I feel more prepared when GBV survivors come to the clinic to seek help,” says midwife Fatima, sitting at her...
Attacks on health care on the rise in Afghanistan
The trauma care unit of Kunduz Regional Hospital sustained minor damages during armed clashes in 2016. Photo: WHO/S.Ramo“I worry for my life every morning I go to work” Kabul 19 August 2017 – As the conflict in Afghanistan escalates and expands, healthcare comes under attack. Since January this year, 164 health facilities have been forced to...
Almost 10 million children to be vaccinated against polio in Afghanistan
Kabul, 14 August 2017 - The Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan, together with WHO and UNICEF, launched a new National Immunization Days campaign during which 9.9 million children under the age of 5 will be vaccinated against polio in all 34 provinces this week. Over 8.9 million children aged 6 months to 5 years will also be given vitamin A...
Shamshullah and Wajid bring life-saving polio vaccines to families’ doorsteps in Kandahar
Wajid vaccinates children at a Kandahar park during a Friday “re-visit” campaign day. WHO/J.JalaliKabul 3 July 2017 – Afghanistan is closer than ever to eradicating polio with only four cases reported this year from Kandahar, Helmand and Kunduz provinces. The progress Afghanistan has witnessed in its efforts to wipe out the crippling disease has...
Tobacco kills up to half of its users – Accelerated efforts needed to tackle Afghanistan’s tobacco crisis
Kabul 18 June 2017 – Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health, WHO and partners marked the 2017 World No Tobacco Day in Kabul today under this year’s global campaign theme “Tobacco – a threat to development”. Ministry officials, UN and NGO representatives and the media attended the event that focused on the harms of the tobacco crisis for the health of...
WHO and ECHO scale up Afghanistan’s blood banks to guarantee safer transfusions
Gulab Shah donates blood at the Herat Regional Hospital. Photo: WHO/S.RamoKabul 14 June 2017 – With the support of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), WHO supports Afghanistan’s blood banks to ensure safe blood transfusions that save Afghan lives. In the past year,...
WHO-supported mobile clinics bring health services to vulnerable Afghans
Afghan women at a mobile clinic in an IDP camp in Kabul. Photo: WHO/S.RamoKabul 12 June 2017 – A razor blade, plastic sheet, bar of soap and a piece of clean string. These are the only items inside a tiny clean delivery kit that Kawkaba, 45, uses when she delivers babies in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the outskirts of...
Treating trauma and the wounds of war in Helmand
Nazo stands by his grandson at the Emergency Hospital in Helmand. WHO/G.Elham “Without this hospital, I would have lost my life” 8 June 2017 – 60-year-old Nazo stands at the bedside of his grandson Rahmatullah, 19, who was badly injured by a roadside bomb in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. Rahmatullah lost both...
Over 9.5 million children to be vaccinated against polio in Afghanistan this week
Kabul, 15 May 2017 - The Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan, together with WHO and UNICEF, launched today the second spring round of National Immunization Days (NIDs) for polio eradication in 2017. Over 9.5 million children under the age of 5 will be vaccinated against polio and more than 5.7 million children aged 2 to 5 will be given...
WHO supports new training centre in Kabul to reduce maternal and newborn deaths
Kabul 15 May 2017 - With the support of WHO, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) and Kabul Medical University (KMU) inaugurated a centre for pre-service training in Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) at the Shahr-Ara Teaching Hospital in Kabul in April 2017 to strengthen care provided to...
