The World Health Organization (WHO) has said “Afghanistan is experiencing one of the harshest winters” and that it had sent medical supplies to to health facilities before the winter set in as part of its winterisation programme.
The Taliban, having banned women from working as aid workers, has exempted health workers. But in some places, women health workers have faced restrictions too. Women health workers, WHO said, were “critical” to health service delivery and in Afghanistan, they have been showing “heroic dedication to serve the health needs of Afghans.”
WHO said its teams were visiting hospitals in Bamiyan and other provinces to ensure winter emergency kits were available to meet the needs of the sick during the winter.
On 26 January 2023, WHO announced that it was responding to an acute respiratory infection outbreak which had killed 17 people in a remote village in Badakhshan province.
