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UN Envoy to Afghanistan visits the Women and Children Drug Treatment Centre in Kabul
Assistant Secretary-General for Support Operations Lisa M Buttenheim is welcomed by children presenting flowers on her arrival at the Women and Children Drug Treatment Centre in Kabul, 7 December 2024. Photo: WHO Afghanistan 22 December 2024, Kabul, Afghanistan – Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Afghanistan Rosa...
First contact health workers improve survival rates in Afghanistan with basic emergency care skills
20 November 2024, Kabul, Afghanistan – Since the introduction of the basic emergency care (BEC) course in Afghanistan in December 2021, WHO has provided 18 rounds of BEC training to a total of 800 first contact health workers, including 333 women, who care for patients with acute illness or injury. By adopting a systematic approach to the initial...
Basic emergency care training boosts the confidence of frontline health workers in Afghanistan
20 November 2024, Kabul, Afghanistan – In response to gaps in standardized trauma management in western Afghanistan, the World Health Organization (WHO) trained 48 first contact health care workers, half of them women, in basic emergency care (BEC) in Herat province. Since January 2024, WHO has trained 339 health workers in BEC, 154 of them...
ISAM 2024 Congress: WHO Afghanistan and the EU present collaborative efforts to address drug use disorders
18 September 2024 — WHO Afghanistan, in partnership with the European Union (EU), took part in the 26th World Congress of the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM). The Congress was held in Istanbul, Türkiye between 5–8 September 2024. Under the theme Building Bridges: Addiction and Recovery, it provided a platform for WHO...
WHO strengthens public health response to substance use in Afghanistan
23 July 2024, Kabul, Afghanistan – Substance use and substance use disorders remain a significant public health burden in Afghanistan, devastating families and communities across the country. Substance use claims hundreds of lives each year, with substance dependence among women on the rise. Since 2023, WHO has played an important role in...
WHO and UN Women launch joint initiative to support women and children with substance use disorders in Afghanistan
17 July 2024, Kabul, Afghanistan – A new initiative to reintegrate vulnerable women with substance use disorders and their children into the community has been launched in Afghanistan. Women will be supported through a comprehensive package of protection services, substance use disorder treatment and mental health services. Afghanistan has had a...
Personal tragedy turns a polio vaccine refusal into a vaccine advocate
7 July 2024 – My name is Lalgul, and I am the father of Ghafar. We live in south-eastern Afghanistan. I was away from home when my son got sick. I returned and found Ghafur paralysed. He was one and a half years old. It started with a high fever, then his right leg became paralysed. My wife and I took him to the district hospital, and he...
WHO enhances health care access in underserved Afghan provinces
Balghali Bala and Payeen Primary Health Care Centre in Samangan province, Afghanistan. Photo credit: WHO26 June 2024, Kabul, Afghanistan – Over 700 000 people have benefited from medical support provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Afghanistan to 113 health facilities strategically located in hard-to-reach areas across 15 Afghan...
Empowered by RCCE campaign, Herat mobilizer saves lives
Abdul Rahman Mansouri delivers health messages about CCHF prevention at an animal market in Pashtun Zarghun district, Herat. Photo credit: WHO/M. Islami26 June 2024, Kabul, Afghanistan – In remote areas of Afghanistan, infectious diseases continue to pose a daily threat to communities with limited access to health care and preventive measures. Of...
Breaking the cycle: from substance use to recovery
Zainab at the drug addiction treatment centre for women and children, Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo credit: WHO/Z. Safari Zainab*, a 32-year-old mother from Kabul, found herself trapped in a nightmare of substance use that threatened to destroy her family. Her world revolved around the toxic grip of drugs, a legacy her husband passed on to their 4 sons and...
