During 30 years of war in Afghanistan more than 1.5 million people have been killed, and greater than 4 million have had to flee for safety as refugees. Across decades and generations, Afghanistan has seen nothing but war.
In addition, many people continue to fall victim to widespread availability of firearms, to the countless landmines buried around the country, and now increasingly to a modern day hazard: road traffic accidents (RTA). Unofficial figures report that five children per day are killed in road accidents in or around Kabul. Increasing the pressures on an already inefficient national health system, are insufficient access to safe water, the prevalence of malnutrition, and outbreaks of tuberculosis and malaria.
EMERGENCY initiated efforts in Afghanistan in 1999 with the establishment of the Surgical Center for War Victims in Anabah, a village in the Panjshir Valley, an area at the time under the control of the Northern Alliance.
In 2001, EMERGENCY opened a second Surgical Center in Kabul, a city under Taliban rule at that time.
In June 2003, EMERGENCY opened a Maternity and Gynecology Unit, adjacent to the Surgical Center in Anabah. This facility provides free of charge qualified assistance to women and babies living in an area with one of the highest mother and infant mortality rates in the world.
In 2003, EMERGENCY built a third Surgical Center in Lashkar-gah, located in Helmand province where there was a complete lack of specialized surgical facilities
Throughout the country, EMERGENCY has created a network of 30 First Aid Posts (FAP) and Public Health Centers in order to guarantee rapid treatment to patients and when necessary their transfer to a hospital for specialized treatment.
Starting in 2001, EMERGENCY began providing healthcare to patients in some of the country's prisons. Additionally, a carpet producing cooperative, offering employment to marginalized women in the Panjshir Valley was set-up.
Since initiating efforts in 1999, EMERGENCY has treated over 3,473,549 million people in Afghanistan.
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