By Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean  24 February 2022, Cairo, Egypt – I am shocked and deeply outraged by the killing of 8 polio health workers, 4 of them women, in Afghanistan today. I extend my deepest condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of those who have lost their lives. As a result of...

Kabul, 17 January 2022 – The first national polio immunization campaign for 2022 begins this week, 17-20 January 2022, targeting 9.9 million children aged 0–59 months across the country. The recent campaign in November 2021 delivered polio vaccinations to 8.5 million children under the age of 5 while the December campaign vaccinated more than 8...

Kabul, 16 December 2021 – In response to the current gap in Afghanistan in standardized management of trauma patients and to improve survivability from injuries, the World Health Organization (WHO) organized a 10-day training in the WHO/ICRC Basic Emergency Care Course in Kabul from 7 to 16 December 2021. Funded by USAID, the course aimed to...

KABUL, 13 December 2021 - The fourth round of a national polio immunization campaign begins this week (13–16 December 2021), and will be synchronized with Pakistan to improve cross-border polio eradication efforts. The campaign targets 9.9 million children aged 0–59 months across the country and is scheduled to start later this month in some...

23 November 2021 – With all the odds against her – born too early, born too small – the tiny baby in the neonatal intensive care ward at Malalay Maternity Hospital in Kabul is still clinging on, struggling for every breath, grasping every extra minute of life. She does not know it, but those caring for her are also struggling on, minute by...

14 November 2021 – At 70 years of age, with life getting ever more difficult and food more scarce, an attack of watery diarrhoea was enough to tip Amina into critical condition. In desperation, Rana, the junior wife in their household of 12, brought Amina to the National Infectious Diseases hospital hoping for some help. And help there was. As...

Kabul/Cairo, 7 November 2021 – An aircraft carrying around 7 metric tonnes of life-saving medicines and supplies from WHO landed in Kabul on 4 November at 11:30 local time.  The shipment was delivered in collaboration with the operations and logistic teams of Qatar Airways and the Government of the State of Qatar. This is the fourth flight...

Kabul, November 3, 2021 – Over 4 metric tonnes of life-saving medical supplies provided by WHO to help the people of Afghanistan arrived in Kabul today, thanks to the support of ECHO (European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid) via the European Union (EU) Humanitarian...

28 October 2021 – WHO has delivered around 17 metric tons of life-saving medical supplies and equipment to Kabul, with support from ECHO. The shipment, worth US$ 700 000, arrived on the EU Humanitarian Air Bridge flight and is a part of WHO’s ongoing emergency response to ensure health facilities across the country are adequately stocked to...

KABUL / AMMAN / KATHMANDU, 18 October 2021 – WHO and UNICEF welcome the decision by the Taliban leadership supporting the resumption of house-to-house polio vaccination across Afghanistan.