Amidst Kabul airport blockage, WHO and UNICEF call for assistance to deliver critical health supplies to Afghanistan
Kabul/Cairo/Kathmandu: Lifesaving supplies to hospitals and humanitarian partners in Afghanistan by World Health Organization (WHO) are rapidly dwindling, and WHO currently only has enough to meet urgent needs for up to one and a half weeks there, WHO and UNICEF pointed out in a joint statement released today. It stated that as humanitarian needs in Afghanistan increase, the abilities to respond to those needs are rapidly declining.
In the past week, WHO distributed lifesaving supplies to partners and hospitals from its stocks in-country. However, with no commercial aircraft currently permitted to land in Kabul, both WHO and UNICEF have no way to get supplies into the country and to those in need. Other humanitarian agencies are similarly constrained.
As a result, more than 500 metric tones of WHO supplies, scheduled to be transported over three flights to Afghanistan this week and next week, remain in WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai’s International Humanitarian City. These include trauma medicines, essential medicines and medical supplies, pneumonia medicines, supplies for the management of severe acute malnutrition, and supplies for the management of chronic diseases.
Conflict, displacement, drought and the COVID-19 pandemic are all contributing to a complex and desperate situation in Afghanistan. “Humanitarian agencies need to be supported and facilitated to meet the enormous and growing needs in Afghanistan, and make sure that no one dies unnecessarily due to lack of access to aid,” the statement said.
While the main focus over the past days has been major air operations for the evacuation of internationals and vulnerable Afghans, the massive humanitarian needs facing the majority of the population should not – and cannot – be neglected. Even prior to the events of the past weeks, Afghanistan represented the world’s third largest humanitarian operation, with over 18 million people requiring assistance.
“Most planes flying into the country to evacuate personnel have been arriving empty, are missing crucial opportunities to bring in urgently needed health supplies and other humanitarian aid,” the joint statement pointed out.
WHO and UNICEF called for immediate and unimpeded access to deliver medicines and other lifesaving supplies to millions of people in need of aid, including 300 000 people displaced in the last two months alone.
WHO operates through 8 offices in Afghanistan and works with local implementing partners to provide urgently needed health care for all. UNICEF has 13 offices in Afghanistan and a range of partners that support us in delivering lifesaving supplies to the most disadvantaged.
“In the first few days of the recent hostilities, both WHO and UNICEF — like all other UN agencies — prioritized the safety and security of our staff. But our work continued even when the hostilities were at their worst. We remain committed to staying in Afghanistan and delivering, and we rapidly shifted gears to address the needs of millions of Afghans who remain in the country,” they stated.
To support the about 10 million children, and their families, affected by the humanitarian crisis, UNICEF is currently delivering life-saving services such as ready to use therapeutic food to nourish starving children and mobile health clinics to give urgent medical care. UNICEF is also delivering water to those most affected by the drought, including in camps for internally displaced people. It is also distributing hygiene kits and continuing vaccination for babies and young children, besides also expanding its humanitarian response in the country by prepositioning supplies. In the past week, in several of the new camps for internally displaced people in Kabul, UNICEF established child-friendly spaces, nutrition hubs, and vaccination sites.
Reiterating that WHO and UNICEF are committed to stay and deliver for the people of Afghanistan, they called for the immediate establishment of a humanitarian airbridge for the sustained and unimpeded delivery of aid into Afghanistan.
– global bihari bureau
