In late August 2025, a magnitude 6 earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, including Kunar province, killing and injuring thousands of people and displacing many families. Among those affected was a mother who later joined Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to help connect her earthquake-hit community with MSF essential healthcare services.
Saliha Sadat, an MSF health promoter whose house was damaged in the earthquake, shares her experience working on MSF’s earthquake response in Kunar Province, where MSF provided primary healthcare to affected communities.
“I am originally from the Nurgal district of Kunar province, close to the epicentre of the earthquake. When thousands of people in my home area were displaced, I felt compelled to help and decided to join MSF.
Every morning at 8 am, I visited the communities, going from tent to tent in the displacement camps. I sat with them and listened to their concerns to identify those who needed medical care from MSF and who needed to be referred. I also held group sessions and discussions to deliver health messages to them, including hygiene practices, antenatal and postnatal care, using an interactive approach – asking questions and encouraging discussion to ensure the messages were understood.
Many people in our community are illiterate and have limited access to information. Some families are not used to visiting health facilities and still prefer home births. A pregnant woman needs regular check-ups to monitor both her own health and her baby’s. Our role as health promoters is to explain why visiting the clinic is vital for their well-being. Without community outreach and awareness sessions, many would not know when or how to seek care. Health promotion acts as a bridge between communities and clinics, ensuring that MSF’s services are accessible, relevant, and understood by the people who need them..
It is important to respect people’s traditions and culture and to speak in a language they understand. As health promoters, we face challenges. Language is one of the biggest barriers. Many people do not understand Pashto but speak Pashayi, a local language unfamiliar to most of the population, including our team. During our visits, we recruited community members who spoke both languages to act as translators.
In every tent and household we visit, we feel the pain of bereaved families. Sometimes people don’t want to talk, so instead, we sit with them, offering comfort and reassurance. One of the most painful moments I experienced was when I saw a two and half year-old baby boy, who had lost all 13 members of his family in the earthquake – with nobody left to take care of him. It was a heartbreaking scene that I will never forget. In moments like that, I try to control myself and offer empathy and strength to others. I continue my work gently, always mindful of the immense pain the community has endured.”
Following the earthquake, MSF responded in Kunar province, eastern Afghanistan, by setting up a primary healthcare clinic and a mobile clinic in two displacement camps – Patan camp and Ari Gamba camp.
From September to December 2025, MSF’s health promotion team reached more than 33,954 people through 3,797 health talks group sessions – over half of them women. For many, this markedtheir first experience accessing proper medical care. Most had come from remote mountainous areas where poverty and distance had prevented them from accessing healthcare services.
During the same period, MSF team treated 17,414 patients, including 7,271 women with 726 ante-and postnatal care consultations, and 3,687 children below five years at the clinics in Patan camp and Ari Gamba camp. By late December, MSF handed over the clinics along with donations in the Patan camp and Ari Gamba camp to the Afghan Red Cresent Society and the Ministry of Public Health, respectively.
