Emergency assistance to Afghanistan’s health infrastructure

Afghanistan | 2021 | CERF

Afghanistan, near Kabul. In one remote village outside Kabul, CARE, an Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund partner, is the only organization providing health services – including medicine, maternal health, and nutrition – through its weekly mobile clinics.

In many areas, mobile clinics like this one are the only healthcare option. “Each time I come here, I see between 100 and 150 patients in a day,” says a CARE physician. “Flu, cough, and other winter-related diseases, like lung problems, and diarrhea, are the most common problems in this village. Women and children are the most vulnerable and are in dire need. There are no physical health centers here.”

The escalating crisis in Afghanistan devastated an already overburdened health system in 2021. The Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund (AHF) supported mobile clinics like CARE’s. At the same time, funding from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) bolstered the broader health system of the country.

CERF allocated $45 million – the year’s largest allocation–to prevent the country’s health system collapse. The funding enabled the World Health Organization and UNICEF – partnering with national and international NGOs – to keep healthcare facilities operating until the end of the year, including hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.

“One of the biggest challenges of the recent crisis here in Afghanistan has been the lack of medical supplies and equipment, and WHO in the last couple of weeks has brought in close to 140 metric tonnes of urgently needed supplies, including these essential health kits for hospitals and clinics, the trauma kits, which provide supplies for 50 trauma patients and up to 100 surgical procedures,” said Dr. Rick Brennan of the WHO.

Overall CERF funding enabled WHO and UNICEF to support 2,168 facilities across 31 provinces between November 2021 and January 2022, preventing a humanitarian catastrophe caused by the collapse of the national public health system.

At the same time, the AHF disbursed $12.6 million to support NGO mobile health services in 16 provinces, particularly those providing trauma care, mental health, psychosocial support, and other services outside of the Government’s Basic Package of Health Service.

Mobile clinics like CARE’s were able to bring vital nutrition assistance to people, especially mothers and children.

“I have two children, Shahnaz, 3, and Razia, 2, and they have both suffered from malnutrition since they were born. We haven’t been able to take care of them properly because we can’t afford it. Since CARE started helping us with nutrition packages, my children’s health condition has improved. If CARE hadn’t helped us, their health would have kept getting worse,” said one mother.

The mobile health teams also provide mental healthcare, a benefit for women who may not otherwise have access to such services. Healthnet TPO-run clinics provided counseling, medication and follow-up care for a woman suffering trauma after her husband’s death. Elsewhere, IMC-supported clinics provided counseling on coping strategies and follow-up care for women experiencing symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety.

As CERF-supported projects propped up the collapsing national public health care system, the AHF expanded trauma care and other health services to underserved areas. Together, the Funds ensured a comprehensive coverage of critical health needs, with broad geographic coverage, during a tumultuous time in Afghanistan.

2021

Original stories from CERF partners WHO and CARE.

More information on the CERF allocations:

https://cerf.un.org/what-we-do/

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