Afghanistan

Since international donors, such as the United States and European countries, announced widespread funding cuts in 2025, more than 400 health care facilities have been forced to close across Afghanistan. This has put additional pressure on an already fragile health care system. The demand for services at MSF facilities has risen sharply, exceeding our capacity — particularly for pediatric and maternal care. Due to the absence of primary health services at the local level, many delay seeking care and only reach a hospital when they have already developed complications. Low vaccine coverage in rural areas adds to the health risks. Our teams saw a surge in measles among children in 2025.  

In August 2025, a magnitude 6 earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, with Kunar province at the epicenter. More than 2,000 people were killed, thousands more injured, and many people lost their homes and livelihoods in the disaster. In response, MSF teams worked in displacement camps, providing general outpatient consultations, wound dressing, routine vaccinations, women’s health consultations, assistance with deliveries, and mental health support. To prevent disease outbreaks, we also established water and sanitation services.

Gender restrictions on women

Ongoing gender restrictions continue to erase women from public and professional life. In Herat in November 2025, female patients, caregivers, and staff were required to wear a burqa to enter all public health facilities, leading to an almost immediate reduction in the number of patients at Herat Regional Hospital. Strict enforcement of the mahram policy, which requires women to travel with a male guardian, exacerbates barriers women face in accessing health care. Due to a years-long ban on women’s education beyond grade 6, Afghanistan is at risk of facing a long-term shortage of female health care professionals. 

Bamyan  

Since December 2022, MSF has been running a community health care program in Bamyan province for underserved villages, particularly in Saighan, Shibar, and Yakawalang districts. We constructed eight health facilities in remote districts between 2022 and 2023, located more than 6 miles — over two hours on foot — from the nearest health center. At these health facilities, MSF-supported staff provide mother and child health services, including pre- and postnatal care, obstetric and gynecological consultations, family planning, assistance in uncomplicated deliveries, vaccination, nutrition screening, and general outpatient care for adults. Maternal referrals are sent to the MSF-supported maternity ward at the provincial hospital; referrals for specialized care are provided when needed.  

Helmand  

MSF has been working alongside the Ministry of Public Health at Boost Provincial Hospital in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, since 2009. In 2025, our teams worked in nearly every department in the hospital, including the emergency room, pediatrics, neonatology, maternity, surgical services, internal medicine, and isolation wards.

Overcrowding remains a critical challenge in the pediatric department, including in the inpatient therapeutic feeding center and the maternity department, which assisted an average of 90 deliveries per day. In 2025, our teams saw twice as many pediatric admissions and deliveries assisted compared to 2020.  

Due to the high volume of patients, we have handed over some of our other activities at Boost Hospital to the Ministry of Public Health to refocus our resources and efforts on the maternal and child health departments.

Herat  

MSF has collaborated with the Ministry of Public Health at Herat Regional Hospital since 2018 to improve pediatric health care. We manage pediatric triage, the emergency room, inpatient and outpatient therapeutic feeding centers, and the intensive and intermediate care units, as well as a dedicated measles isolation ward. We treated many children with measles in 2025, the majority under 12 months old. We also recorded an increase in pediatric emergency room consultations compared to 2024.  

Kandahar  

Since 2016, MSF has been treating patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in Kandahar province and supporting the detection and treatment of drug-sensitive TB at other facilities across southern Afghanistan. We also run an inpatient and outpatient therapeutic feeding center, providing treatment for severe acute malnutrition alongside routine vaccinations for children under 5.  

Khost  

In Khost, our maternity hospital offers comprehensive emergency obstetric and neonatal care and serves as a referral center for women with obstetric complications across the province, including those facing prolonged labor and pre- and postpartum hemorrhage. At the hospital, our package of care includes services in pre-delivery rooms, delivery rooms, a neonatal intensive care unit, a mothers’ intensive care unit, and an operating theater. We are also promoting skin-to-skin mother-child contact, which improves the health of premature babies and their mothers alike.  

We also offer financial support and training for staff working at eight MSF-supported health centers in the province.  

Kunduz  

In 2025, Kunduz Trauma Center continued to deliver surgical and rehabilitative care, including physiotherapy, for patients with traumatic injuries from Kunduz and surrounding provinces. We also run a microbiology laboratory and an antimicrobial stewardship program to monitor and treat infections, seeking to reduce the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance against first-line treatments in the community.  

In October 2025, we marked 10 years since the US military bombed Kunduz Trauma Center, which killed 42 people and destroyed the original building. We rebuilt the facility at a different location, reopening in 2021.  

Kunar  

In response to the August 2025 earthquake, MSF sent medical supplies to affected hospitals and teams to assess the needs in Jalalabad and surrounding districts. The following month, we opened a general health care clinic in Patan camp, offering outpatient consultations, vaccinations, pre- and postnatal care, health promotion, and mental health support. We also started providing these services in Ari Gamba camp. We handed over both clinics to the Afghan Red Crescent Society and the Ministry of Public Health at the end of the year.