“We rushed her to the red zone”: Saving a young life in Afghanistan
May 19, 2022Her name was Tahera*. She had been brought to the MSF-supported Herat Regional Hospital the day before by her parents; with a red, blotchy rash spreading down her little body. After being assessed by our medical team she was admitted...
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Afghanistan: Measles poses deadly risk for malnourished children in Afghanistan
March 9, 2022Zainab didn’t sleep well last night. The lights and the incessant beeping of the machines in the intensive care unit would keep anyone awake. But mainly she couldn’t sleep because she was worried about her one-year-old son, Takberullah. He also...
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Drug-resistant tuberculosis in Afghanistan: We must continue to put people at the center of treatment
February 22, 2022In recent years, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been able to improve patients' experiences of care for drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB), but the changing political situation threatens to derail this progress, writes Anita Mesic, MSF tuberculosis (TB), HIV, and hepatitis adviser. This...
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New Year babies: The first MSF newborns of 2022
January 20, 2022There is always a reason to find hope. For a second uncertain year in a row, many countries have faced the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, while, at the same time, conflict, disaster and obstacles to accessing care have hit...
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Inside Afghanistan’s child malnutrition crisis
January 9, 2022Dr Mohammed* works for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) at Boost Hospital in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, where 400 severely malnourished children under five years of age are treated every month. Many of them are also suffering from worrying complications such as pneumonia,...
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A hospital of women, for women: Preserving maternity care in Khost, Afghanistan
December 17, 2021Babies continue to be born in Afghanistan, against the backdrop of political upheaval and its consequences on healthcare and the economy. In MSF’s Khost maternity hospital, women remain at the fore, providing much-needed care to new mothers and their babies....
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The roar, the fear, the bunker: My time at a frontline hospital in Afghanistan
November 8, 2021Nurse Gianna Falchetto returns from Lashkar Gah, where her team worked under extreme pressure to keep a hospital running... In the city of Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) supports Boost Hospital. It's one of the largest...
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Overcoming obstacles: Treating trauma in Kunduz, Afghanistan
September 15, 2021Fighting in the city of Kunduz in north-eastern Afghanistan ended on 8 August. During the clashes, we transformed our office space into a temporary trauma unit to treat the people wounded. That unit is now closed and on 16 August all patients...
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Afghanistan: Medical needs grow as international organisations suspend activities
September 6, 2021After months of fighting on the outskirts of Herat in Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also known as the Taliban, took control of the city on August 12. We are running an inpatient therapeutic feeding centre (IFTC), a clinic for...
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Afghanistan: Amid uncertainty, hospitals are still full in the country
August 28, 2021After the rapid transfer of power in Afghanistan there has been a big shift in the health context. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) continues to run medical activities in five provinces. Below two medical staff working in Lashkar Gah and Khost...
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Afghanistan: Medical needs urgent as ever in Afghanistan after Taliban takeover
August 20, 2021Last week, after weeks of intense fighting, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, also known as the Taliban) entered the city of Kabul as the government collapsed. The IEA declared war over and assumed control over the country. While many...
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As violence soars across Afghanistan access to healthcare is dangerously limited
August 10, 2021The violence in Afghanistan has surged since May with fighting around and inside provincial capitals between the Afghan forces and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, also known as the Taliban). This is impeding access to medical care, increasing the number of...
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