From Trauma to Recovery: Addressing Emergency Care in Afghanistan

After fighting broke out in the rural district of Chark-Logar, Salim and his family were forced to flee their home. During the firefight, his brother was killed and Salim was shot in the stomach. It took Salim two hours until he reached a first aid post. In the process, he became separated from his wife and children. Two days later he was transferred to a hospital run by Emergency, an Italian NGO specialized in trauma care. Salim's story is not unusual in today's Afghanistan, which is in the midst of one of the longest protracted complex emergencies in the world. It faces prolonged conflict, frequent natural disasters and mass population movements. The situation is made even more complicated with masses of internally displaced people, returnees, and refugees congregating in both urban centres and their outskirts. The already overwhelmed health facilities are often unable to absorb the additional burden of the new arrivals.
Source: WHO Feature Stories - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: emergencies [subject], emergency preparedness, crises, emergency preparedness, Afghanistan [country], Eastern Mediterranean Region [region], Feature [doctype] Source Type: news