Cash crisis threatens WHO operations in Afghanistan

KABUL (Pajhwok): Eighty percent of WHO-supported essential healthcare services in Afghanistan could shut down due to a funding paucity, warns the UN agency.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in Afghanistan said millions including women, children, the elderly, the displaced and returnees would be left without access to critical medical care.

As of March 4, a statement from the agency said, 167 health facilities had shut down due to funding shortages, cutting off lifesaving medical care to 1.6 million people across 25 provinces.

Without urgent intervention, it added, ver 220 more facilities could close by June 2025, leaving an additional 1.8 million Afghans without access to primary health care.

The WHO representative and head of mission said: “These closures are not just numbers on a report, they represent mothers unable to give birth safely, children missing lifesaving vaccinations, entire communities left without protection from deadly disease outbreaks.”

Dr Edwin Ceniza Salvador, commenting on the cash crisis, said: “The consequences will be measured in lives lost.”

Afghanistan is already battling multiple health emergencies, including outbreaks of measles, malaria, dengue, polio and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.

In the absence of functioning health facilities, efforts to control the diseases were severely hindered, WHO said, adding over 16 000 suspected measles cases, including 111 deaths, were reported in the first two months of 2025.

With immunisation rates at critically low levels, children were at heightened risk of preventable illness and death, the organisation noted.

“This is not just about funding. It is a humanitarian emergency that threatens to undo years of progress in strengthening Afghanistan’s health system,” said Dr Salvador.

“Every day that passes without our collective support brings more suffering, more preventable deaths and lasting damage to the country’s health care infrastructure.”

pr/mud