Afghanistan’s health care system on the brink of collapse

By ELENA BECATOROS
Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Hospitals in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul are running out of supplies, whether it is diesel fuel to produce supplemental oxygen for COVID-19 patients, or dozens of essential drugs. Employees also have not been paid their salaries for months. The crisis in Afghanistan’s health care system has worsened in the months since the Taliban took control in August and the international community pulled its funding and froze the country’s assets abroad. Because Afghanistan is so dependent on foreign aid, the consequences have become dire. The United Nations has sounded the alarm over a brewing hunger crisis, with 22% of Afghanistan’s 38 million people near famine and another 36% facing acute food insecurity.