Afghanistan: UN Aid Teams Warn Funding Cuts Are Closing Vital Health Centres as Nearly 22 Million People Need Assistance
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on November 2 that vital health centres in Afghanistan are being forced to scale back or close because of funding cuts to humanitarian services, and that remote communities such as those in Badakhshan province in the country's far northeast face long and dangerous journeys to reach care. OCHA spokesperson Olga Cherevko described what she saw at Kishim District Hospital, where medical staff face shortages of essential supplies and resources every day alongside a very worrying increase in malnutrition.
"There are needs, particularly severe and extreme needs that are on the increase in many parts of the country," Cherevko said, noting the hospital lacked the resources needed to provide adequate support to the patients who depend on it. "Often there is simply nowhere else left to turn," she stressed.
Afghanistan remains one of the world's largest humanitarian crises, with nearly 22 million people needing assistance. Food is available but too expensive for millions of Afghans, the UN agency said in a recent update.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 照片：阿富汗巴达赫尚省法扎巴德一带山景，Julian-G. Albert 摄，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 2.0 授权 / Photo: Fayzabad in Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, by Julian-G. Albert, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
