Afghanistan: child nutrition department of Kandahar hospital overheated
Audio 01:18
The Afghan health system is on the verge of collapse and only functions with the help of humanitarian organizations.
here at Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, December 8, 2021. AP - Petros Giannakouris
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Four months after the fall of Kabul, according to the UN, Afghanistan is going through one of the most serious food crises in the world.
Deprived of international aid, which represented 80% of the Afghan budget, families are on the verge of famine and the health system on the verge of collapse.
Report in the infant nutrition department at Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan.
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With our special envoys in Kandahar
,
Vincent Souriau and Boris Vichith
This little guy is five and a half years old.
He was admitted a few days ago, so weak he couldn't swallow anything.
It is one of the 18 children of this woman who can no longer feed him.
“
When the fighting started, we left everything suddenly
,” she says.
My husband worked on the farm, we lost all our income, we just left with our clothes.
It is because of the crisis that he is so thin.
Even to come here to the hospital, I had to borrow money.
"
►Also read: In Afghanistan, the time has come for survival
Over 200% attendance
Since the regime change, the numbers have exploded.
The attendance of the nutrition service increased by 200%, according to doctor Mohammad Atiq Baryalai who supervises the admissions: “
Most parents can no longer afford to buy formula, because of the economic degradation which affects the 'Afghanistan.
Before the regime change, at this time of year, it was pretty much empty here.
Today we have 70 patients, whereas a few years ago in this season, we were supposed to welcome only 20 or 25.
"
For the moment, thanks to the funds of the International Committee of the Red Cross, it manages to maintain the stocks of drugs.
“
But I don't know,
” he said, “
where we will be in a few weeks.
"
►Also read: Afghanistan: in Bamyan, the university closed doors because of the restrictions imposed on women
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Afghanistan
Taliban
Health and medicine
Economic crisis
Food