The COVID-19 crisis in Afghanistan has greatly exacerbated the country’s dire humanitarian crisis. As the disease compounds with extreme poverty, ongoing conflict, and a weak health system, millions of Afghans are forced to cope without social and economic protections, reliable health care, or mental health resources. As a result of the virus, food insecurity and violence against women skyrocked across the country, and countless people have lost their lives or the lives of their loved ones to the virus. 

 

Current death counts are likely drastically underestimated. Measuring the impact of the virus in Afghanistan is not only challenging due to the lack of health system oversight and testing capacities, but also due to underreporting of the virus. When the virus first entered Afghanistan's borders, misinformation and stigma surrounding the virus were rampant; many people who fell ill believed they had contracted malaria or typhus, 80 to 90 percent of cases were never reported. Despite this, Ahmad Jawad Osmani, the acting health minister in Afghanistan, stated in august 2020 that based on a representative antibody sample with technical support from the WHO, an estimated 10 million Afghans had been infected, or 31.5% of the population. 

 

The conflict has already left the country with one of the worst health systems in the world. Afghanistan has hardly any testing capacity and hospitals are scarcely equipped. Further, hospitals are often insecure and subject to attacks, as seen in May 2020 in the heinous attack against a Kabuli maternity ward. 

 

Rural communities in Afghanistan are the most at risk. Not only are they at a high-risk of contracting the virus due to having little to no access to sanitation as basic as running water and soap to wash their hands, but they also receive little accurate information, and often misinformation, concerning the spread of the virus. 

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In order to help the most vulnerable populations of Paghman district (Kabul province), Parwan province and Panjshir province and to fight against the spread of Covid-19, Afghanistan Libre has quickly reacted and developed an integrated project around 3 axes: