3.5. Healthcare

Table of contents

3.5. Healthcare

The development of Afghan healthcare has been impeded by decades of war,945 leaving it heavily dependent on foreign aid to deliver basic health services.946 In the absence of quality healthcare, many Afghans have been travelling abroad to seek medical care, for example in Pakistan, India, Türkiye947 or Iran.948 This option has reportedly become increasingly unattainable in recent years, amid border closures with Pakistan and Pakistan’s restricted visa policy.949 Afghanistan is experiencing a deepening healthcare crisis, exacerbated by dwindling international aid and the de facto authorities’ minimal state budget allocation on health.950 Meanwhile, life expectancy has reportedly declined,951 and mortality rates among children under five952 and mothers have reportedly increased.953

Amid the Taliban takeover in August 2021, major donors cut their development funding which severely impacted the healthcare system.954 Aid organisations have tried to fill the gap in donor cuts for public health,955 but have not been able to replace the former scale of international donor support.956 About 33 % of the population (over 14 million people) are underserved in terms of healthcare access,957 and rural communities in particular.958 The situation has been further exacerbated by subsequent aid cuts, prompting many organisations to shift priorities from inter alia healthcare to immediate relief efforts.959 According to AAN, the number of operative health facilities had declined to 1 500 by 2024, down from a ‘peak’ of 3 000 facilities in 2010.960 Due to the cuts in US foreign aid, 422 additional health facilities had been suspended by 31 August 2025, impacting over 3 million people in 30 provinces, according to Health Cluster and WHO.961

Amid the Taliban takeover, many healthcare professionals left the country or quit their jobs.962 Already under the previous government, there was a significant shortage of healthcare staff, with the number of doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, and pharmacists in relation to the population size being well below WHO’s thresholds963 for ‘critical shortage’.964 There were about 10.3 health workers per 10 000 individuals in Afghanistan in 2023 and 2024.965 This figure can be put in relation to the WHO’s recommended 44.5 key health workers per 10 000 population.966 There is a particular shortage of female health staff, exacerbated by the de facto government’s restrictive policies on women,967 and gender segregation in medical facilities.968 The prohibitions on women taking university courses and medical training furthermore blocks new generations female doctors,969 nurses and midwives from graduating.970 There are also shortages in specialists.971 Furthermore, many healthcare personnel lack necessary qualifications.972 For example, research published in Conflict and Health in 2024, outlined how medical personnel across Afghanistan generally lacked awareness of common noncommunicable diseases (NDCs),973 which includes chronic diseases such as heart attacks, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes.974 Meanwhile, in 2025, WHO estimated that NDCs accounted for 43 % of deaths in Afghanistan.975 There are moreover shortages in medicines,976 and the provision is highly reliant on NGO support.977 However, stocks sometimes run out within days when there are many patients.978

As mentioned, rural areas in particular face gaps in accessing quality healthcare979 and are disproportionally affected by shortages in clinics, health staff,980 and medicine.981 Provincial hospitals reportedly often only had supplies of basic medications and referred patients in need of other medication (including for NDCs) to private pharmacies.982

Moreover, health facilities suffer from poor infrastructure and a lack of medical equipment.983 This includes health facilities across Afghanistan984 and ‘on all levels’, as reported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF).985 For example, according to a 2024 study, a large maternal centre in Kabul City only had one ultrasound machine, and, due to the lack of basic laboratory equipment, hospitals in all of Kabul’s neighbouring provinces referred patients in need of CT scans to the capital.986 There are also generally high bed occupancy rates, with up to three patients sharing beds in some facilities.987 The 2024 study found that many health facilities were built about 40 years ago and are in need of refurbishment as they were designed for a significantly lower number of patients, as well as a significantly lower number of beds per room.988 Some facilities moreover lack reliable electricity supply,989 struggle to heat the facilities during winter,990 and lack ventilation systems to cool the facilities during summer.991 According to the 2024 study, some child patients had died due to lack of heating.992

The health system is also burned by outbreaks of infectious diseases993 such as measles, acute watery diarrhoea, and malaria994 as well as natural disasters causing severe injuries.995

Many Afghans face economic barriers to access healthcare.996 In some provinces, the de facto authorities have introduced fees for public healthcare,997 but also in public institutions that are supposed to provide free healthcare, patients may have to pay for basic services, including child delivery, surgeries,998 and medicines if supplies are short.999 Although the general security situation has improved in recent years which facilitates travel to health centres,1000 distances1001 and costs associated with travelling may also impact household decisions whether to seek healthcare.1002 Meanwhile, the general ability to pay for healthcare has worsened since the takeover.1003 Some incur debts to fund health services1004 or delay care until their condition becomes urgent.1005 Women and children (in particular women in poor and rural areas and with disabilities1006) have been disproportionately affected by the deterioration in healthcare accessibility.1007 Restrictions on women’s travel have furthermore limited women’s mobility,1008 and have hampered the work of mobile health teams.1009 Moreover, the requirement of both female medical staff and female patients to be accompanied by a mahram in some areas impact women’s access to healthcare,1010 as well as the general shortage in female staff in areas where women are only permitted to be seen by female health personnel.1011

Mental health needs have increased in Afghanistan in recent years, and have become more noticeable at health clinics amid an increase in people seeking help.1012 In 2025, WHO estimated that one in five Afghans live with a mental health condition.1013 The de facto government’s restrictions on women have also reportedly driven up the rates of mental health issues among women.1014 Meanwhile, many provincial hospitals and primary healthcare services lack mental health services, as reported by WHO,1015 and mental health services have not been prioritised among donors.1016 According to a representative of the de facto Ministry of Public Health’s mental health deportment, cited in local media, Afghanistan would need 3 000 mental health counsellors to meet the national demand, while 1 100 were active in May 2025. Meanwhile, the representative stated that there were about 130–150 mental health specialists across Afghanistan, while the double would be needed.1017 These figures could not be corroborated with other sources within the time constraints of drafting this report. According to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the absence of local mental health services is a primary barrier to seeking help, and there is also a lack of specialised professionals. Travel distances to access services also pose a barrier for many, especially for conditions requiring multiple sessions.1018 Another barrier to seeking help is the stigma surrounding mental health issues.1019 In some communities, individuals with mental health issues may be ridiculed, humiliated and ostracised,1020 why many conceal their issues.1021

  • 945

    WHO, Afghanistan, Who’s Health Emergency Appeal 2025, 16 January 2025, url, p. 1

  • 946

    HRW,“A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url; New Humanitarian (The), Afghan doctors warn of healthcare crisis as international aid cuts bits, 25 September 2023, url; UN Human Rights Council, Situation of human rights in Afghanistan, 20 February 2025, url, para. 21

  • 947

    Sherzad, A. G. et al., Factors Influencing Decision Making of Afghan Patients to Seek Medical Treatment in Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Study, Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, April 2025, url

  • 948

    RFE/RL, Unreliable Medical Tests Force Afghans to Seek Treatment Abroad, 13 June 2025, url

  • 949

    Hasht-e Subh, The Prescription Shift: Is India Replacing Pakistan in Afghanistan’s Medical Lifeline? , 20 December 2025, url

  • 950

    Bjelica, J., Rural Women’s Access to Health in Afghanistan: “Most of the time we just don’t go”, AAN, March 2025, url, pp. 16, 51

  • 951

    UN Afghanistan, Annual report 2023, 19 April 2024, url, p. 5; Bjelica, J., Rural Women’s Access to Health in Afghanistan: “Most of the time we just don’t go”, AAN, March 2025, url, p. 51

  • 952

    Bjelica, J., Rural Women’s Access to Health in Afghanistan: “Most of the time we just don’t go”, AAN, March 2025, url, p. 51

  • 953

    Bjelica, J., Rural Women’s Access to Health in Afghanistan: “Most of the time we just don’t go”, AAN, March 2025, url, pp. 16, 51; Nasari, A. et al., Let Afghan women work: maternal health depend on it, The Lancet, 15 October 2025, url

  • 954

    HRW,“A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url; New Humanitarian (The), Afghan doctors warn of healthcare crisis as international aid cuts bits, 25 September 2023, url; Turkmani, S. and Currie, S., Afghanistan’s fragile health system faces catastrophe without immediate international funding, BMJ, 16 April 2025, url

  • 955

    HRW,“A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url; Bjelica, J., Rural Women’s Access to Health in Afghanistan: “Most of the time we just don’t go”, AAN, March 2025, url, p. 15

  • 956

    HRW,“A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url; BBC News, Afghanistan earthquake: What foreign aid is getting in?, 8 July 2022, url

  • 957

    Humanitarian Action, Afghanistan, 2025, 19 December 2024, url; WHO, Afghanistan, Who’s Health Emergency Appeal 2025, 16 January 2025, url, p. 1

  • 958

    Salem, M. R. et. al, The current situation of health equity in underserved areas of Afghanistan, Frontiers in Public Health, 24 September 2024, url; Humanitarian Action, Afghanistan, 2025, 19 December 2024, url

  • 959

    HRW,“A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url; Clark, K., The End of US Aid to Afghanistan: What will it mean for families, services and the economy?, AAN, 9 May 2025, url

  • 960

    Bjelica, J., Rural Women’s Access to Health in Afghanistan: “Most of the time we just don’t go”, AAN, March 2025, url, p. 4

  • 961

    Health Cluster and WHO, Afghanistan: Suspended/Closed Health Facilities due to the U.S. Government Work-Stop Ban (Update as of 31 August 2025), 31 August 2025, url

  • 962

    HRW,“A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url; Bjelica, J., Rural Women’s Access to Health in Afghanistan: “Most of the time we just don’t go”, AAN, March 2025, url, p. 15

  • 963

    Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Ministry of Public Health, Policy Brief, Role of Private Sector in Fight Against Covid-19 in Afghanistan, 30 April 2020, url, p. 3

  • 964

    WHO, Working together for health, 2006, url, pp. 11–12

  • 965

    Neyazi, N. et al., Assessing the health workforce in Afghanistan: a situational analysis into the country’s capacity for Universal health coverage, April 2025, Conflict and Health, url; Bjelica, J., Rural Women’s Access to Health in Afghanistan: “Most of the time we just don’t go”, AAN, March 2025, url, p. 16

  • 966

    Neyazi, N. et al., Assessing the health workforce in Afghanistan: a situational analysis into the country’s capacity for Universal health coverage, April 2025, Conflict and Health, url

  • 967

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url; Bjelica, J., Rural Women’s Access to Health in Afghanistan: “Most of the time we just don’t go”, AAN, March 2025, url, p. 4

  • 968

    MSF, Excluding women from medical institutes threatens the future of healthcare in Afghanistan, 6 December 2024, url; HRW, Afghanistan’s Taliban Ban Medical Training for Women, 3 December 2024, url

  • 969

    Health Policy Watch, ‘Are We Not Human?’ Afghan Women in Despair After Taliban Ban Them from Nursing and Midwifery, 19 December 2024, url; Al Jazeera, Veiled rebellion: Female medical students go underground in Afghanistan, 30 December 2023, url

  • 970

    Health Policy Watch, ‘Are We Not Human?’ Afghan Women in Despair After Taliban Ban Them from Nursing and Midwifery, 19 December 2024, url; UN News, Afghanistan: UN condemns Taliban ban on women attending medical classes, 5 December 2024, url

  • 971

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url; Bjelica, J., Rural Women’s Access to Health in Afghanistan: “Most of the time we just don’t go”, AAN, March 2025, url, pp. 21, 38

  • 972

    RFE/RL, Unreliable Medical Tests Force Afghans to Seek Treatment Abroad, 13 June 2025, url; Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url

  • 973

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url

  • 974

    WHO, Noncommunicable diseases, 25 September 2025, url

  • 975

    WHO, Afghanistan’s hidden epidemic of noncommunicable diseases and mental health conditions, 21 September 2025, url

  • 976

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url; MSF, Earthquake in Afghanistan: MSF's response, 2 September 2025, url

  • 977

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url; MSF, Persistent barriers to access healthcare in Afghanistan: An MSF report, 6 February 2023, url, p. 24

  • 978

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url

  • 979

    Humanitarian Action, Afghanistan, 2025, 19 December 2024, url; Women for Afghan Women, Building Health, 17 January 2025, url; Alavi, L. J., Intersectionality and Human Rights: Ensuring Access to Maternal Health in Afghanistan, RWI, May 2025, url, p. 26

  • 980

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url; Humanitarian Action, Afghanistan, 2025, 19 December 2024, url; BBC Media Action, Understanding how to increase uptake of WASH, nutrition and child health services in Afghanistan, June 2024, url, p. 5

  • 981

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url; BBC Media Action, Understanding how to increase uptake of WASH, nutrition and child health services in Afghanistan, June 2024, url, p. 21

  • 982

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url; See also: van Gurp, M. et al., The availability of essential medicines in public healthcare facilities in Afghanistan: navigating sociopolitical and geographical challenges, Health Policy and Planning, April 2025, url

  • 983

    Humanitarian Action, Afghanistan, 2025, 19 December 2024, url; RFE/RL, Unreliable Medical Tests Force Afghans to Seek Treatment Abroad, 13 June 2025, url; MSF, Pressure grows on hospitals in Afghanistan, as paediatric patient numbers rise, 3 July 2025, url

  • 984

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url; MSF, Pressure grows on hospitals in Afghanistan, as paediatric patient numbers rise, 3 July 2025, url

  • 985

    MSF, Pressure grows on hospitals in Afghanistan, as paediatric patient numbers rise, 3 July 2025, url

  • 986

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url

  • 987

    MSF, Earthquake in Afghanistan: MSF's response, 2 September 2025, url

  • 988

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url

  • 989

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url; ICRC, Afghanistan: A year of responding to numerous humanitarian challenges, 31 December 2024, url

  • 990

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url; New Humanitarian (The), In Afghanistan’s battered healthcare system, power cuts can prove fatal, 17 January 2023, url

  • 991

    Women for Afghan Women, Building Health, 17 January 2025, url; Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url

  • 992

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, urlhttps://conflictandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13031-024-00595-4

  • 993

    Humanitarian Action, Health, [2024], url

  • 994

    WHO, Afghanistan, Emergency Situation Report, September 2025, url

  • 995

    Arab News, Doctors warn US aid cuts leave rural Afghanistan without healthcare, 25 March 2025, url; TOLOnews, Doctors Warn of Critical Shortages in Quake-Affected Eastern Afghanistan, 5 September 2025, url

  • 996

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url; HRW,“A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url

  • 997

    Alavi, L. J., Intersectionality and Human Rights: Ensuring Access to Maternal Health in Afghanistan, RWI, May 2025, url, p. 29

  • 998

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url; See also: Emergency, Access to emergency, critical and operative care in Afghanistan: Perspectives from Afghan people in 11 provinces, 26 June 2205, url, p. 15

  • 999

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url

  • 1000

    MSF, Earthquake in Afghanistan: MSF's response, 2 September 2025, url

  • 1001

    MSF, Dying to reach health care in Afghanistan, 17 June 2024, url; Intersos, Afghanistan: when access to healthcare is just a dream, 21 November 2024, url

  • 1002

    Bjelica, J., Rural Women’s Access to Health in Afghanistan: “Most of the time we just don’t go”, AAN, March 2025, url, p. 4; Arab News, Doctors warn US aid cuts leave rural Afghanistan without healthcare, 25 March 2025, url; MSF, Bringing health care to Afghanistan’s remote Bamyan province, 6 June 2025, url

  • 1003

    Valente, M. et al., Access to care in Afghanistan after august 2021: a cross-sectional study exploring Afghans’ perspectives in 10 provinces, Conflict and Health, 22 April 2024, url; HRW, “A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url

  • 1004

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url

  • 1005

    Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url; MSF, Pressure grows on hospitals in Afghanistan, as paediatric patient numbers rise, 3 July 2025, url

  • 1006

    UN Human Rights Council, Situation of human rights in Afghanistan, 20 February 2025, url, para. 21

  • 1007

    MSF, Pressure grows on hospitals in Afghanistan, as paediatric patient numbers rise, 3 July 2025, url

  • 1008

    Guardian (The), Millions of Afghans lose access to healthcare services as USAID cuts shut clinics, April 2025, url

  • 1009

    HRW, “A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url

  • 1010

    Alavi, L. J., Intersectionality and Human Rights: Ensuring Access to Maternal Health in Afghanistan, RWI, May 2025, url, pp. 34–35

  • 1011

    UN Women, FAQs: What it’s like to be a woman in Afghanistan in 2025, 7 August 2025, url; HRW,“A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url;

  • 1012

    BBC News, 'No-one comes for us': The women trapped in Afghanistan's mental health system, 19 August 2025, url; Lamberti-Castronuovo, A. et al., Exploring barriers to access to care following the 2021 socio-political changes in Afghanistan: a qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 24 April 2024, url

  • 1013

    WHO, Afghanistan’s hidden epidemic of noncommunicable diseases and mental health conditions, 21 September 2025, url

  • 1014

    HRW,“A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url; BBC News, 'No-one comes for us': The women trapped in Afghanistan's mental health system, 19 August 2025, url

  • 1015

    WHO, Afghanistan’s hidden epidemic of noncommunicable diseases and mental health conditions, 21 September 2025, url

  • 1016

    HRW,“A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url

  • 1017

    Pajhwok News, Global support key to reducing Afghanistan mental health crisis, 27 May 2025, url

  • 1018

    UNFPA, Mental Health Assessment, 2024, url, p. 87

  • 1019

    HRW,“A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url; BBC News, 'No-one comes for us': The women trapped in Afghanistan's mental health system, 19 August 2025, url

  • 1020

    IOM, Displacement Trends and Challenges in Afghanistan since August 2021, 2022, url, p. 7; UNFPA, Mental Health Assessment, 2024, url, p. 66

  • 1021

    HRW,“A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future”, Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis, 12 February 2024, url; UNFPA, Mental Health Assessment, 2024, url, pp. 66, 87