Afghanistan
Medical and surgical treatment for a population struggling with humanitarian crises and the legacy of decades of war.
8,583,717
Patients treated
1999
Start of activities
For over 40 years, Afghanistan has been devastated by instability and conflict that has killed over one million people, left hundreds of thousands wounded and disabled, and created over four million refugees. The legacy of previous wars continue to remain: anti-personnel mines and unexploded ordinance continue to wound children and adults, overwhelmingly civilians.
Today, Afghanistan is under an unprecedented economic crisis that is starving more than 14 million people. Nearly half of the country’s population live below the poverty line and access to care remains difficult, especially for those living in remote, rural areas.
Despite the challenges, our hospitals have never stopped being operational and we continue to provide free, high-quality care, as we have always done.
We have been present in Afghanistan since 1999. Since then, we have treated over 8 million people in the country and trained countless local medical staff with two Surgical Centres for War Victims in Kabul and Lashkar-Gah, a Surgical & Paediatric Centre and a Maternity Centre in Anabah, Panjshir Valley, and a network of more than 40 First Aid Posts.
ACCESS TO CARE
A new snapshot of the evolving health context in the country, through the voices of more than 1,600 Afghans across 11 provinces.
Even through the bitterest days of summer 2021, work never stopped once at our hospitals. They remain a beacon for local people, where victims of war, humanitarian crisis and every other emerging problem in the country can come for treatment.
We will continue providing free, high-quality medical treatment and aid to the people of Afghanistan, just as we have since 1999.
Training local staff
As on all of EMERGENCY’s projects, our foreign staff in Afghanistan are tasked with training their local colleagues.
Our hospitals in Lashkar-Gah, Kabul and Anabah are also centres for postgraduate training in surgery, paediatrics and gynaecology, as officially recognised by the Afghan Ministry of Health.
As of 2022 we also provide specialist training in anaesthetics and we will soon award post-specialism “fellowships” in intensive care.
Providing jobs and professional training is an essential aim, above all at this time of reconstruction in Afghanistan, which has been devastated by fighting and suffered serious brain drain of doctors and nurses in the past year. Anyone with the chance to flee the country did so, worsening an already embattled healthcare system.
Till the Last Bird Sings
A graphic novel about access to care in Afghanistan, conceived by EMERGENCY, and written and drawn by Francesca Romana Torre and La Tram. Inspired by colleagues and patients at EMERGENCY’s hospitals and clinics throughout the country.
Access to Care
With input from patients, caregivers, EMERGENCY’s own medical staff and those at Afghan public hospitals, this report illuminates the barriers to medical treatment that Afghans are still facing every day.
AFGHANISTAN20
A project reflecting on the conflict in Afghanistan between 2001-2021, from the perspective of its victims and those treating them. Bringing together data from the organisation’s healthcare network across the country, testimonies from staff and patients, as well as contributions by journalists, researchers, and analysts, the project provides a vivid account of this chapter of the war in Afghanistan.
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