How governments and NGO's around the world responded to the crisis in Afghanistan

A major economic crisis is developing in Afghanistan.

Many international organizations have put on hold aid because of the political uncertainty. The banking system is barely functioning because of the US (United States) , which froze Afghanistan’s US dollar reserves.

Even though humanitarian aid is limited, a lot of countries have reached out for help and provided a lot of people with humanitarian visas to return to their countries or seek for help.

A number of promises have been made by European countries to host refugees and help them find a job to support their family.

Germany has committed to admit 25,000 Afghans refugees, the Netherlands agreed to admit more than 3,100, France and Spain agreed to admit 2,500 people, followed by 2,000 who will head to Sweden, according to a document signed by the governments of those countries. Western countries evacuated more than 120,000 Afghans but Western troops left behind tens of thousands of Afghans who had advocated for human and women's rights, or worked as journalists or for the former government and are now worried about their fate under the Taliban rule.

The UN is trying to help them and is sending medical supplies to hospitals which were severely damaged by the crisis .

A lot of people in Afghanistan experience the consequences of the crisis as they cannot afford to treat their children medically.

Mobile health teams are there to sustain them by going to remote villages to treat sick women and children. The doctors are part of a mobile health team supported by the UN Population Fund who provide medical services to those who would otherwise have no or limited access. In the most remote parts of Afghanistan, the nearest health facility can be over two hours walk away. Communities in these areas are accounting for most of the country's maternal and childhood illnesses and deaths.

Malnutrition was a critical issue even before the current crisis, but now the situation is even worse. Is estimated that 3.2 million children under the age of five are expected to be acutely malnourished by the end of the year. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that humanitarian needs in the country have already risen sharply and that the health care system has been brought to its knees. Since last August, UNFPA has increased the number of mobile health teams it supports across Afghanistan to respond to the humanitarian health emergency. “The teams have defied formidable odds to deliver essential reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and psychosocial support services to mothers and children in hard-to-reach areas that are otherwise precariously underserved.” “The teams and UNFPA-supported static emergency clinics reached nearly 50,000 people with urgent medical services just last month alone.” “Shortages of equipment, supplies and medicine, a lack of fuel and heating facilities, especially now with winter approaching, and uncertain support from partners are just some of the challenges we’re facing,” said Shahla Oruzgani, head midwife at the maternity hospital.The hospital’s supplies have been left depleted. At the Ahmad Shah Baba Hospital, where Dr. Aqila Bahrami works, the outlook is no less bleak. “We used to receive regular support from an international NGO, but their staff left in the aftermath of the events in August. Now we are in serious need of medical supplies,” she told the UN reproductive and sexual health agency, UNFPA.

Emergency kits for a lot of people in Afghanistan are lifesaving as doctors report.

After the Taliban took over, the only help that hospitals received was from the UN in the form of emergency kits and mobile health teams.

The emergency kits contain essential drugs, medicine and equipment to ensure safe deliveries and support the reproductive, maternal and newborn health needs of at least 328,000 people. Mobile health teams provide to hospitals more than 300 kits both in Kabul and across 15 provinces.

“Preliminary estimates warn that the current humanitarian emergency and suspension of lifesaving reproductive services for women and girls could cause up to 58,000 additional maternal deaths, 5.1 million unintended pregnancies and a near doubling of the unmet need for family planning over the next four years. “

In Afghanistan a woman dies every two hours from pregnancy-related complications. Ms. Oruzgani said: “The kits are critical at this time, as hospital resources are running out and the support we were receiving has dwindled. We can’t be sure where our next assistance will come from.”

The rate of deaths due to childbirth in Afghanistan remains one of the highest rates in the world and “unless the current crisis is immediately addressed the health system could buckle. This would undo decades of progress on maternal health care and carry grave consequences for the lives of more than 4 million women and adolescent girls of childbearing age. “Despite escalating insecurity and hostilities, UNFPA and partners continue to operate and in October reached over 97,000 people with life-saving sexual and reproductive health and protection services, including prenatal care, safe delivery, antenatal care and family planning.”

Source:“Lifesaving Support for New Mothers in Crisis-Wracked Afghanistan | | UN News.” United Nations, United Nations, 16 Dec. 2021, https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/12/1108122.

“Feature: Mobile Health Teams Save Lives in Afghanistan's Most Remote Areas | | UN News.” United Nations, United Nations, 25 Nov. 2021, https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/11/1106442.

Backzynska, Gabriella, and Sabine Siebold . “Germany Promises to Take in 25,000 Afghans - EU Document.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 10 Dec. 2021, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germany-promises-take-25000-afghans-eu-document-2021-12-10/.