The UN health agency said international funding cuts are forcing health professionals to decide "who to save and who to let die"

Afghanistan's health system on the brink of collapse

photo_camera OMS/Lindsay Mackenzie - WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (centre) talks to staff at the Wazir Mohammad Akbar Khan National Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan

Afghanistan's health system is on the brink of collapse, the head of the World Health Organisation warned on Wednesday.

News of the collapse of Afghanistan's health network coincided with an announcement by the UN's top humanitarian official, who announced the disbursement of $45 million from a UN emergency fund to support the ailing health system.

Martin Griffiths said that "allowing Afghanistan's health care system to collapse would be disastrous", adding that if it did, the Afghan population "would be deprived of access to primary care, such as emergency caesarean sections and trauma care".

Crisis in Kabul

The Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, echoed this message from the Afghan capital, Kabul, stressing that international funding cuts are forcing health professionals to decide "who to save and who to let die".

After meeting with senior Taliban officials, medical professionals and patients, Tedros explained that the lack of financial support for the country's largest health project, Sehetmandi, has left thousands of facilities unable to buy medical supplies and pay salaries.

He explained that only one in five Sehetmandi centres remained open, although he said that access to all communities "was no longer hampered".

Una trabajadora de la salud atiende a un niño en la provincia de Parwan, en Afganistán en noviembre de 2020
Shortage of medicines

He stressed that the "collapse of health services has a multiplier effect on the availability of basic health care, as well as on emergency response, polio eradication and vaccination efforts against COVID-19", while reporting the disruption of the cold chain for medicines.

It also noted the closure of 9 out of 37 hospitals treating patients with coronavirus and that disease control, testing and vaccination have declined.

UN commitment to women's education and health remains unchanged

With concerns about women's rights following the appointment earlier this month of an all-male interim cabinet, Tedros insisted that women need access to education, health care and health workers.   

He warned that "with fewer operational health facilities and fewer female health workers coming to work, patients are hesitant to seek medical care," and stressed the Organisation's commitment "to work with our partners to invest in health education for girls and women, and to further train women health workers".

The World Health Organisation's operations in Afghanistan include a trauma care programme that includes training and the provision of supplies and equipment for 130 hospitals and 67 blood banks.

The challenge of vaccinating 20 per cent of Afghans remains

On 15 August, before the Taliban came back to power, Afghanistan had 2.2 million people vaccinated against COVID-19. However, Tedros warned that there has been a rapid decline in vaccination rates in recent weeks and that 1.8 million doses remain to be used.   

"We need to act quickly to use these doses in the coming weeks and work towards the goal of vaccinating at least 20 per cent of the population by the end of the year.

The WHO chief also urged renewed action on polio eradication in Afghanistan, one of two countries where the disease remains endemic.

"With only one case of wild poliovirus reported this year compared to 56 in 2020, there has never been a better time to eradicate polio," he said.

At the same time, he warned that measles also continues to spread, so WHO can initiate a nationwide polio vaccination campaign, and combine it with inoculations against measles and COVID-19.

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