The sound of crying and beeping medical devices fills the small room. Nurses rush from bed to bed, checking vital signs. Mothers push oxygen masks onto the faces of their children. The emergency room (ER) doctor bursts through the swinging doors of the pediatric ER in Boost hospital in Helmand. “I have 17 patients waiting […]
Read More… from Afghanistan: Pressure grows on hospitals, as pediatric patient numbers rise
The Kunduz Trauma Center in northern Afghanistan sees an average of more than 1,000 patients a month seeking urgent, trauma-related care. Many patients who have experienced the loss of a limb face financial hardship, making it difficult to afford the mobility aid devices they may need. To help respond to their needs, teams of technicians with Doctors […]
Read More… from Afghanistan: Building crutches, walkers and stretchers from scratch
Despite the challenges facing female healthcare workers in Afghanistan, in Lashkar Gah, MSF’s all-women maternity team are helping thousands of women to give birth safely every year. Obstetrician-gynecologist Pauline Lynch shares the story of one woman… They arrived on a motorbike. It’s hard to imagine the journey, because Jamila* was heavily pregnant and having repeated […]
Read More… from Maternity care in Afghanistan: “What this all-women team is achieving is phenomenal”
The baby lies with his eyes closed, his fleecy blanket a riot of reds, pinks and greens. On his nose a sticking plaster holds the tubes in place that run into the tiny nostrils, feeding him a milk solution that should help him regain his strength. His mother watches him intently from a nearby chair, […]
A dysfunctional health system, widespread poverty, and increased restrictions placed on women are at the heart of the current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, according to a new report published by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Policymakers, donors and local authorities must urgently focus on strengthening primary medical care at district levels to improve […]
The future of female patients and health workers in Afghanistan is being threatened by the recent decree issued by the Ministry of Economy prohibiting women from working for non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Though health workers, including MSF staff, are currently exempted from the ban, there is no formal assurance that they will be able to continue […]
Read More… from Afghanistan: “It is difficult to know that we are something less”
After months of continuous restrictions placed on the female population of Afghanistan, limitations placed on their participation in everyday life, access to education, and most recently even the right to work for non-governmental organizations, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) strongly condemns the Islamic Emirate’s erasure of women from social life in the country. “More […]
Jawahira was referred to the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) tuberculosis (TB) hospital in Kandahar earlier this year from a clinic in Daikundi, central Afghanistan. “I used to visit private clinics, but instead of giving me TB medication, they usually just prescribed me painkillers,” she says. The cost of searching out treatment also took […]
Read More… from Afghanistan: MSF hospital in Kandahar provides hope for people with TB
Following the earthquake that struck Khost and Paktika provinces in Afghanistan on the night of 21 to 22 June, Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) sent teams made up of medical and logistical staff to the worst-affected areas. Hundreds of people are thought to have been killed, over a thousand wounded, and many homes […]
Read More… from MSF intervenes to support the victims of the earthquake in Afghanistan
Zainab didn’t sleep well last night. The lights and the incessant beeping of the machines in the intensive care unit would keep anyone awake. But mainly she couldn’t sleep because she was worried about her one-year-old son, Takberullah. He also had a restless, irritable night as he was having trouble breathing until the doctor gave […]
Read More… from Afghanistan: Measles poses deadly risk for malnourished children