The provincial hospital in Badakhshan has been operating without a functioning maternity ward for more than a year after aid agencies halted support, leaving hundreds of women without access to critical care, local health workers said.
The 60-bed obstetrics and gynecology unit has remained shuttered since international health funding was cut, according to medical staff, who warned that the situation has created a crisis for women in one of Afghanistan’s largest and most remote provinces.
Patients at the hospital complain of overcrowding, a shortage of female doctors, and a lack of basic medicines. “I have been here for several days with three other patients in a very small space. Since the 60-bed ward closed, there is nowhere else to go,” one woman said.
At present, only a handful of female volunteers are trying to save mothers’ lives with limited supplies and without salaries. The shortages come as the Taliban have barred women from medical education, compounding the scarcity of female health workers.
“This ward must be reopened urgently,” said Ghani Farah, a doctor familiar with the situation. “If support is not restored, a humanitarian disaster is inevitable.”
According to the United Nations, the suspension of U.S. humanitarian aid after the Taliban takeover in 2021 forced hundreds of health facilities across Afghanistan to shut down. At least three million people have since been left without access to health care, with women disproportionately affected.
