Dispatches from Afghanistan: “3,000 public health centers have been closed due to budget constraints” – JURIST

Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan file reports with JURIST on the situation there after the Taliban took over. Here, a JURIST staff correspondent in Kabul comments on the growing incapacity of local health centres, the blockage of international aid to deal with the COVID-19 crisis and the lack of transparent discussion about this. topic. For confidentiality and security reasons, we retain his name. The text has only been slightly modified to respect the author’s voice.

More than 3,000 public health centers have been closed due to budget constraints forcing people to travel from districts to provincial centers for treatment, sometimes in neighboring provinces. This has resulted in a difficult financial situation for people seeking treatment.

Additionally, local media reports that more than 30 COVID-19 centers have been closed, again due to budget constraints and also lack of health personnel. The status of COVID-19 in the country is not only unclear, but there is not even an official discussion about it.

There is still no report or update on how many people are infected each day and the resulting death toll. To make matters worse, international aid has stalled, with countries like the United States, China, Russia and India no longer providing much-needed vaccines.