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Japan supports Afghanistan to strengthen response capacity for infectious diseases
26 April 2023, Kabul, Afghanistan – The Government of Japan has pledged one million USD to the World Health Organization (WHO) for a project to strengthen Afghanistan’s capacity for preparedness, detection and response to infectious diseases following natural disasters. The funds will strengthen and expand the capacity of the national disease...
A working life well spent: 22 years as a polio eradicator in Afghanistan
Dr Ghafoori administering polio vaccine to a nomad child in Samangan province of Afghanistan in 2002 27 April 2023 – When Dr Abdul Rahman Ghafoori began working with WHO’s polio eradication programme in 2000, polio was endemic in 30 countries across the world and WHO’s Afghanistan programme was tackling the virus on multiple fronts. “Surveillance for...
On International Women’s Day, WHO commends female health workers and assures them of continuous advocacy for rights to health and education
Kabul, Afghanistan, 8 March 2023— On International Women’s Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) in Afghanistan honours the sacrifices, resilience and bravery of female health workers who continue to deliver health services to the Afghan population, including women and girls, in the midst of the challenging country context. Kabul,...
WHO joins forces with the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations to support health needs in Afghanistan
6 March 2023, Kabul – The World Health Organization (WHO), through generous support from the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), launched a new emergency medical department in Mirwais Regional Hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The European Union delegation to Afghanistan visited Mirwais Regional Hospital's new...
In Afghanistan, communities keep an eye out for polio in one of the virus’s last frontiers
Details of all AFP cases are copiously recorded in Surveillance Registry books. When a mother brought her young son to a clinic in Paghman, a town not far from the Afghan capital Kabul, Spogmai, a nurse on duty at the time, paid special attention. “The mother was complaining that her son was weak and that the weakness had happened suddenly, so I...
Afghanistan vaccinates 5.36 million children against measles and 6.1 million children against polio in a nationwide campaign
22 December 2022, Kabul — Afghanistan has vaccinated 5.36 million Afghan children 9–59 months against measles while 6.1 million children 0-59 months received oral polio vaccine in a nationwide vaccination campaign held from 26 November to 12 December 2022. Based on the data from Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health Expanded Programme on...
Italy commits €6 million to improve equitable access to health care facilities in Afghanistan
21 December 2022, Kabul, Afghanistan – The Government of Italy, via the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (Pakistan and Afghanistan offices), has allocated €6 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Afghanistan to improve people’s access to health services in primary and secondary health care facilities in 5 provinces: Hilmand,...
Polio surveillance review yields results in Afghanistan
The site at Pezand Pana Dafter in Nangarhar province has produced 3 positive environmental samples since coming online in September19 December 2022 – Recommendations from the international review of Afghanistan’s poliovirus surveillance system are yielding important results for the country’s eradication programme. The review team, comprising...
EU contributes €16 million to improve mental health and drug use disorder services in Afghanistan
WHO and the EU renew their partnership to further support mental health service delivery in Afghanistan. Photo: WHO/Zakarya Safari. From left to right: Ms Karin Gatt-Rutter, Team Leader, Education, Health, Migration of the EU Delegation to Afghanistan; Ms Raffaella Iodice, EU Chargée d’Affaires and Deputy Head of Delegation to Afghanistan; Dr Jamshed...
Afghanistan completes largest ever review of polio surveillance system
The reviewers visited 76 districts in 25 of the country’s 34 provinces, interviewing 899 people20 September 2022 – For the last 2 decades, the prospect of sending 16 visiting polio experts out across the provinces of Afghanistan would have been impossible but from 6 to 19 June 2022, WHO Afghanistan’s polio eradication programme did just that....
