The ICRC continues to assist the massive humanitarian needs in Afghanistan

The International Committee of the Red Cross has been deeply engaged in helping Afghans in need for more than 40 years. ICRC will continue to be deeply engaged in the coming months and years.

One highly successful program the ICRC has supported over the last two years is called the Hospital Resilience Program. This program has paid the salaries of 10,900 Afghan doctors, nurses, and staff at 33 hospitals across the country, an area serving 26 million people. The program paid for drugs and other medical supplies, as well as running costs like electricity, ambulance services, lab tests, and food for patients. Millions of Afghans have benefitted from this vital assistance.

The Hospital Resilience Program was conceived as an emergency stopgap measure intended to prevent the country’s healthcare system from collapsing following the change of authority in the country in August 2021. The ICRC’s goal was to temporarily maintain the country’s secondary health to enable the authorities to organize themselves to assume responsibility for the healthcare system.

A planned handover of responsibility was to occur on 31 August 2023, at which point the Afghan authorities would assume financial responsibility for all the hospitals. This has been planned with transparency, and the health authorities have shown their willingness and determination to assume control and meet people’s healthcare needs. However, the organization is speaking with donors in the hope of extending certain aspects of this program.

”Afghanistan is the ICRC’s second-largest operation in the world, and we have no plans to leave the country”.

ICRC plans to continue supporting for the foreseeable future 47 Afghanistan Red Crescent Society primary healthcare centers, which have a nutrition program. International Committee of the Red Cross will also work with the Afghan authorities to improve health care in places of detention, including direct support for the clinics in Kandahar Sarposa Prison and Herat Provincial Prison. The organization will also maintain support for seven physical rehabilitation centers, which treat over 150,000 people with physical disabilities each year.

ICRC will also continue to support the emergency departments in Ghazni Regional and Provincial Hospitals and Rockha District Hospital in Panjshir, and the organization will continue to give weapon bearers first-aid training in various provinces.

The ICRC calls on the international community and development agencies to increase their support for Afghanistan and its vital public infrastructure. Humanitarian aid is required for an overwhelming number of Afghans, many of whom have suffered for years.