Time is running outto save millions of lives

KABUL (Agencies): The international community must step up urgently to stop Afghanistan’s rapid slide towards total collapse and all-out humanitarian disaster, warned international Red Cross leaders on a five-day visit to the country.
Six months after the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan took control, resulting in international sanctions and the freezing of aid, the continuing reluctance of many international donors to engage with the current leadership is worsening the desperate plight of millions of Afghans already worn down by more than four decades of conflict, repeated droughts and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Healthcare services are among those in most urgent need of support. Thousands of health facilities have closed or are not functioning anymore, and most people can’t afford treatment in private clinics or to travel to neighbouring countries. The banking and liquidity crisis is having a direct and huge impact on the health system.
Many salaries have not been paid and generators lack fuel. Ambulances can’t run, there isn’t food for patients, and they lack adequate medicine. “I leave my children at home with my husband and I come here to do my best for the patients that are coming here. I’m a strong woman because I’m fighting with lots of challenges in Afghanistan but from the beginning I didn’t want to leave my country,” says gynaecologist and mother of three, Dr Jagona Faizli.
“I wanted to stay here but because of these problems every day now I don’t know. If the situation goes wrong, I will have to leave my country, but it will make me very disappointed. Let’s see what will happen.” Dedicated and courageous female and male health staff do their best to save lives every day, but without a functioning health system, their job is often akin to putting plasters on festering wounds.
“The workload is too much. We have too many newborn children. It would be good if we have few more doctors,” said Dr Ghazanfar Shaharbanu, head of neonatal ward at Kabul’s Malalai Hospital. “Malalai Hospital is a big hospital and people come here from all suburbs of Kabul. Most cases have complications.” Through the Hospital Resilience Project, the International Committee of the Red Cross is supporting 28 hospitals across the country, including directly paying the salaries of around 10,000 health professionals. This support ensures access to healthcare for up to 20 million people.