Ishaq* arrived in critical condition. He’d been playing near his home in Kunduz, Afghanistan when he picked up an unfamiliar object. As he tried to open it to see what it was, it exploded. He was around eight years old. Ishaq’s family acted fast. They used a scarf, desperately trying to stop the bleeding as […]
Read More… from Afghanistan: The golden time, or the lifesaving window in trauma care
In 2025, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams continued to respond to some of the world’s most urgent crises. Wars in Gaza and Ukraine dragged on, violence in Sudan escalated, and millions of people were displaced amid growing barriers to migration and shrinking humanitarian support. These overlapping emergencies left countless communities without the assistance they desperately need, while insecurity and funding gaps […]
Since Nov. 5, local restrictions have been implemented in Herat province requiring female patients, caretakers and staff to wear a burqa to enter public health facilities, including at Herat hospital. This sudden enforcement adds limitations to their participation in everyday life and puts additional barriers that affect women’s ability to access essential healthcare. Between Nov. 5 and Nov. 7, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins […]
“Can’t you find better people to treat?” That was the question we were asked, as Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), during a meeting with an armed group some years ago. We were discussing one of our hospitals on a frontline and the fact that we were treating people who were perceived as the enemy. […]
“My son was so badly injured and I had no hope for his recovery, as even his liver was torn to pieces,” says Fatima, the mother of a patient admitted to the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Kunduz trauma centre, in Afghanistan, in July 2025. “The hospital did all they could to help him recover, […]
Read More… from Afghanistan: 10 years since the attack on MSF’s Kunduz trauma centre
Just before midnight on Aug. 31, a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan. At least 1,400 people are reported to have been killed and more than 3,000 injured. Entire villages have been reduced to rubble, with many people still trapped. Tragically, the death toll is expected to rise significantly. The disaster hit the Kunar and […]
Read More… from Afghanistan: MSF’s response to the earthquake in eastern Afghanistan
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”
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams in Afghanistan have reported a surge in measles patients at three MSF-supported hospitals since January. While measles is endemic in Afghanistan, such a high number of cases so early in the year is cause for alarm. At least one child in Afghanistan has died from measles every day […]