Children across Afghanistan are facing a deepening health emergency as the closure of hundreds of clinics and a surge in pediatric illnesses stretch the country’s fragile healthcare system to its limits, international aid organizations warned.
In a new report, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders or MSF) said hospitals it supports in Helmand, Herat and Balkh Provinces are overwhelmed, with a record number of children being brought to emergency wards amid severe shortages of medicine, beds and medical staff.
At Bost Hospital in Helmand, the number of children under age five seeking emergency care rose from about 54,000 in 2022 to more than 122,000 in 2024. Nearly 14,000 children were admitted in April alone — the highest monthly figure recorded in the last four years.
In Herat, the number of child admissions has jumped 27 percent this year, with the provincial hospital now treating an average of 354 pediatric patients daily in its emergency unit.
The dramatic rise in demand comes amid the suspension of U.S. assistance and other international funding, which has led to the closure or suspension of more than 400 clinics across the country, according to the World Health Organization and the Global Health Cluster. As many as 3.08 million people have been left without access to basic health services.
“This situation is making it increasingly difficult to treat children and will almost certainly lead to higher mortality,” MSF said, urging urgent international action to restore aid and stabilize Afghanistan’s collapsing healthcare infrastructure.
In rural districts like Kohsan and Injil in Herat Province, residents say local clinics are understaffed, understocked and often unable to provide meaningful treatment.
“Our children are very sick. The medicine they give us doesn’t work,” said one mother in Kohsan. “They hand out painkillers, but nothing improves. We don’t have real care.”
Another mother in Injil described taking her child, suffering from diarrhea and vomiting, to a clinic. “They gave me a couple of packets of medicine, but it didn’t help,” she said. “We had to go to the city. Even there, it’s uncertain whether we get proper care.”
Humanitarian organizations have warned that the collapse of health funding is threatening to reverse years of progress in reducing maternal and child mortality in Afghanistan, which remains heavily dependent on external support for basic services.
