A World Health Organization official said Friday that health workers are struggling to get medicines and supplies in Afghanistan, where facilities have been attacked and some workers have fled the violence.
WHO regional emergencies director Rick Brennan said Taliban fighters have indicated they want continued support for health services in the areas they are taking.
But the situation was fluid and the needs remain “enormous and complex” in a country where at least 18.4 million people need humanitarian aid, including 3.1 million children at risk of acute malnutrition, he said.
Taliban officials said on Friday that they had captured 85 percent of Afghanistan’s territory.
Government officials rejected the claim of a Taliban delegation visiting Moscow as part of a propaganda campaign launched as foreign forces, including the United States, withdrew after nearly 20 years of fighting.
Speaking via videolink from Cairo at a UN briefing in Geneva, Brennan said: “We are concerned about the lack of being able to provide essential medicines and supplies and we are concerned about attacks on health care. “
He said there have been 30 attacks on facilities this year, including an artillery attack on a health center in Kunar province two days ago.
He said health workers in some rural clinics had fled, though others had returned to their jobs.
Brennan said, “The Taliban are indirectly, informally, seeking support for the continuation of health services in the areas they are taking … so I expect there will be some stability.”
He said some aid would arrive next week, including 3.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses and oxygen concentrators. These included Johnson & Johnson’s shot doses donated by the United States and AstraZeneca supplements through the COVAX facility.
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