Emergency COVID-19 Response in Rural Afghanistan
Donation protected
Emergency Response :
Rural Afghan families often live without clean water and sanitation and in fear of a war that has ravaged the country and its health system for over four decades. "Pre-coronavirus" Afghanistan was already classified as the 'world's deadliest country for children' and ‘the worst country to live in as a woman’ by the United Nations. As the virus exacerbates the already dire humanitarian situation, it could take the country years to not just recover from this outbreak, but to simply return to pre-COVID-19 levels of need. Our targeted response places women and children in rural communities, whom are often the farthest left behind in Afghanistan, first.
Your donation can save lives from the quickly spreading COVID-19.
Mission Statement :
Afghanistan Libre was founded in 1996 by Chékéba Hachemi in response to the deterioration of women’s and girl’s rights under the Taliban regime, and exists to combat the inequitable conditions in Afghanistan that persist today. Through providing women and girls the tools they need to claim their rights, to lead autonomous lives, and to be active participants in the sustainable reconstruction of their country, we believe that a peaceful vision of Afghanistan is possible. Thus, we seek to provide Afghan women and girls with quality education and comprehensive psychosocial and emotional support, to improve their sexual and reproductive health rights awareness and access to essential services, and to empower their economic independence.
The Context :
Already ravaged by decades of conflict, Afghanistan is acutely vulnerable to the catastrophic effects of COVID-19.
There are more than 37,000 confirmed cases in Afghanistan despite the country's extremely low testing capacity. An astonishing estimated 80 to 90 percent of cases are not being tested. Last week, Ahmad Jawad Osmani, the acting health minister in Afghanistan, stated that based on a representative antibody sample with technical support from the WHO, an estimated 10 million Afghans have been infected, or 31.5% of the population.
41 years of conflict has devastated the health care system in Afghanistan and attacks against health facilities, like the recent abhorrent attack on a maternity ward in Kabul, persist even during this unprecedented time.
Consequently, there are an estimated mere 300 respirators for a population of 35 million, which are routinely being smuggled out of the country and sold in Pakistan. Many health clinics do not have proper protective gear to treat COVID-19 patients and are thus turning away thousands who show symptoms of infection.
While large cities like Kabul have taken measures to contain the virus and to educate the population on preventing it’s spread ; rural parts of Afghanistan remain not only massively misinformed and malinformed, but are particularly vulnerable to the virus’ socioeconomic and physical effects.
Afghan Women and Coronavirus
A report by the New Humanitarian released at the beginning of the month shows a massive disproportion between men and women being tested for COVID-19 in Afghanistan. While UN Women has reported that women make up 51% of COVID-19 cases globally, only between 30 and 35 % of tests conducted have been on women in Afghanistan, and only 27% of the total case count is female. There are a number of factors that are driving this phenomenon : including stigmas surrounding the virus ; to having to travel long distances to access testing; to women not being allowed to leave the house without male company or permission; to fears around not being able to properly protect themselves from the virus due to lack of education and equipment.
This statistical gap is shocking given the already heightened level at which women will inevitably feel the impacts of the virus. In times of war and crisis, gender disparities are heightened and already marginalized women bare the brunt of social and economic costs.
Women make up 55% of the informal workforce in Afghanistan and often cannot stay home from work, or if they must, will not be able to cope. The household economic impacts of the virus coupled with the ongoing conflict have left an estimated 11 -14 million people facing acute food insecurity within the country -- fearing where their next meal will come from. Studies show that women disproportionately bare the brunt of food insecurity due to their level of control over household resources, weaker bargaining power, and informal roles within the agricultural sector.
Further, The UN estimates that five million Afghans, predominantly women and children, live in fear of violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation on a daily basis. The COVID-19 outbreak only makes this worse. More than half of the Afghan population of 37 million, including many survivors of conflict-related trauma and violence, suffer from anxiety, depression, or PTSD. And according to Human Rights Watch, less than 10 percent receive psychosocial support from the state. Women have the added disproportionate mental-health burden due to the gender-based nature of much of the violence inflicted on civilians throughout the conflict. Humanitarian actors throughout the region are seeing an increase in violence against women and children as factors such as social isolation, interrupted access to school, and household containment surmount with heightened stress, food insecurity, and increased poverty.
Our Response
Afghanistan Libre, an Afghan/French NGO and trusted actor in rural zones of Afghanistan since 1996, is committed to providing immediate relief to the crisis that is unfolding amongst populations disproportionately left behind.
We are extremely concerned for our beneficiaries, not only for the grave health impacts that this virus has had on many of them and their loved ones, but also for the way that this disease is already exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation in the country.
"Pre-coronavirus Afghanistan" was already classified as the world's deadliest country for children and ‘the worst country to live in as a woman’ by the United Nations. As the humanitarian situation worsens, it will take the country years to not just recover from this outbreak, but to simply return to pre- COVID-19 levels of need.
Since the virus reached Afghanistans borders, Afghanistan Libre has been working tirelessly to provide support to thousands of vulnerable Afghans.
So far we have :
- Launched a radio broadcast in rural provinces surrounding Kabul that regularly reaches more than 700,000 Afghans. The broadcast, which hosts expert economists, mental health professionals, epidemiologists, and doctors, raises awareness around the prevention and spread of the disease, and how to best cope with it financially and emotionally at the household and community levels.
- Hired 24 seamstresses, all of whom have recently graduated from our vocational training program, to sew more than 50,000 masks which were/are being distributed in rural villages of Afghanistan.
- Distributed hygiene kits to the most vulnerable members of our beneficiary communities. These are complete with soap, hand sanitiser, information booklets (adapted to the illiterate community), and other expensive and hard to access cleaning supplies.
- Safely reopened our Women's Centres where thousands of women receive lifesaving mental health support.
Our Next Steps:
While our incredible field team is reaching thousands of people, we must do more in solidarity with our international community.
The next stage of our COVID-19 response includes :
- Continuing to scale up our awareness raising efforts and basic emergency hygiene response.
- Launching our Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) response. This will include constructing hand washing stations in rural villages (where running water is scarce) and in our schools, women's centres, and childcare centres.
- Equipping local hospitals with protective gear and medical equipment. We work in close partnership with the ministry of health and have an extensive list of supplies that are in critical shortage.
- Ensuring the safe reopening of all of our programming. Starting last week we have begun gradually reopening programmes such as our women's psychosocial support and sexual and reproductive health programs in our Women's Centres. The needs for these programs are elevated as domestic violence increases and as mental health continues to deteriorate in situations of heightened social isolation and poverty. Schools are anticipated to reopen in the next 20-50 days and it is critical that we are able to reopen safely to protect our thousands of students, who are mostly girls, and those around them.
Afghanistan is at risk of a second wave as early as August that could be even more deadly than the first. And while the mortality rates and infection rates appear low, this is not reflective of reality. Early projections predicted that the virus could claim more than 110,000 lives.
But, with the right support there is still time to save thousands of lives. With your help we will be able to respond to the needs of thousands of Afghans that have already been enduring the compounding burdens of conflict, poverty, natural disaster, and disease for over 40 years.
COVID-19 is already exacerbating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and international aid does not nearly meet the social, economic, and health related needs of millions of Afghans. The loss of $1 billion dollars of American aid is being felt around the country.
We cannot afford to leave Afghan women and girls behind. As COVID-19 spreads rapidly through the country and with the US-Taliban peace accord precariously looming over women’s rights, as an international community we must mobilise to meet this critical moment.
There is too much at risk, and we desperately need your help.
For more information on our other programs please visit www.afghanistan-libre.org.
Thank you !
Rural Afghan families often live without clean water and sanitation and in fear of a war that has ravaged the country and its health system for over four decades. "Pre-coronavirus" Afghanistan was already classified as the 'world's deadliest country for children' and ‘the worst country to live in as a woman’ by the United Nations. As the virus exacerbates the already dire humanitarian situation, it could take the country years to not just recover from this outbreak, but to simply return to pre-COVID-19 levels of need. Our targeted response places women and children in rural communities, whom are often the farthest left behind in Afghanistan, first.
Your donation can save lives from the quickly spreading COVID-19.
Mission Statement :
Afghanistan Libre was founded in 1996 by Chékéba Hachemi in response to the deterioration of women’s and girl’s rights under the Taliban regime, and exists to combat the inequitable conditions in Afghanistan that persist today. Through providing women and girls the tools they need to claim their rights, to lead autonomous lives, and to be active participants in the sustainable reconstruction of their country, we believe that a peaceful vision of Afghanistan is possible. Thus, we seek to provide Afghan women and girls with quality education and comprehensive psychosocial and emotional support, to improve their sexual and reproductive health rights awareness and access to essential services, and to empower their economic independence.
The Context :
Already ravaged by decades of conflict, Afghanistan is acutely vulnerable to the catastrophic effects of COVID-19.
There are more than 37,000 confirmed cases in Afghanistan despite the country's extremely low testing capacity. An astonishing estimated 80 to 90 percent of cases are not being tested. Last week, Ahmad Jawad Osmani, the acting health minister in Afghanistan, stated that based on a representative antibody sample with technical support from the WHO, an estimated 10 million Afghans have been infected, or 31.5% of the population.
41 years of conflict has devastated the health care system in Afghanistan and attacks against health facilities, like the recent abhorrent attack on a maternity ward in Kabul, persist even during this unprecedented time.
Consequently, there are an estimated mere 300 respirators for a population of 35 million, which are routinely being smuggled out of the country and sold in Pakistan. Many health clinics do not have proper protective gear to treat COVID-19 patients and are thus turning away thousands who show symptoms of infection.
While large cities like Kabul have taken measures to contain the virus and to educate the population on preventing it’s spread ; rural parts of Afghanistan remain not only massively misinformed and malinformed, but are particularly vulnerable to the virus’ socioeconomic and physical effects.
Afghan Women and Coronavirus
A report by the New Humanitarian released at the beginning of the month shows a massive disproportion between men and women being tested for COVID-19 in Afghanistan. While UN Women has reported that women make up 51% of COVID-19 cases globally, only between 30 and 35 % of tests conducted have been on women in Afghanistan, and only 27% of the total case count is female. There are a number of factors that are driving this phenomenon : including stigmas surrounding the virus ; to having to travel long distances to access testing; to women not being allowed to leave the house without male company or permission; to fears around not being able to properly protect themselves from the virus due to lack of education and equipment.
This statistical gap is shocking given the already heightened level at which women will inevitably feel the impacts of the virus. In times of war and crisis, gender disparities are heightened and already marginalized women bare the brunt of social and economic costs.
Women make up 55% of the informal workforce in Afghanistan and often cannot stay home from work, or if they must, will not be able to cope. The household economic impacts of the virus coupled with the ongoing conflict have left an estimated 11 -14 million people facing acute food insecurity within the country -- fearing where their next meal will come from. Studies show that women disproportionately bare the brunt of food insecurity due to their level of control over household resources, weaker bargaining power, and informal roles within the agricultural sector.
Further, The UN estimates that five million Afghans, predominantly women and children, live in fear of violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation on a daily basis. The COVID-19 outbreak only makes this worse. More than half of the Afghan population of 37 million, including many survivors of conflict-related trauma and violence, suffer from anxiety, depression, or PTSD. And according to Human Rights Watch, less than 10 percent receive psychosocial support from the state. Women have the added disproportionate mental-health burden due to the gender-based nature of much of the violence inflicted on civilians throughout the conflict. Humanitarian actors throughout the region are seeing an increase in violence against women and children as factors such as social isolation, interrupted access to school, and household containment surmount with heightened stress, food insecurity, and increased poverty.
Our Response
Afghanistan Libre, an Afghan/French NGO and trusted actor in rural zones of Afghanistan since 1996, is committed to providing immediate relief to the crisis that is unfolding amongst populations disproportionately left behind.
We are extremely concerned for our beneficiaries, not only for the grave health impacts that this virus has had on many of them and their loved ones, but also for the way that this disease is already exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation in the country.
"Pre-coronavirus Afghanistan" was already classified as the world's deadliest country for children and ‘the worst country to live in as a woman’ by the United Nations. As the humanitarian situation worsens, it will take the country years to not just recover from this outbreak, but to simply return to pre- COVID-19 levels of need.
Since the virus reached Afghanistans borders, Afghanistan Libre has been working tirelessly to provide support to thousands of vulnerable Afghans.
So far we have :
- Launched a radio broadcast in rural provinces surrounding Kabul that regularly reaches more than 700,000 Afghans. The broadcast, which hosts expert economists, mental health professionals, epidemiologists, and doctors, raises awareness around the prevention and spread of the disease, and how to best cope with it financially and emotionally at the household and community levels.
- Hired 24 seamstresses, all of whom have recently graduated from our vocational training program, to sew more than 50,000 masks which were/are being distributed in rural villages of Afghanistan.
- Distributed hygiene kits to the most vulnerable members of our beneficiary communities. These are complete with soap, hand sanitiser, information booklets (adapted to the illiterate community), and other expensive and hard to access cleaning supplies.
- Safely reopened our Women's Centres where thousands of women receive lifesaving mental health support.
Our Next Steps:
While our incredible field team is reaching thousands of people, we must do more in solidarity with our international community.
The next stage of our COVID-19 response includes :
- Continuing to scale up our awareness raising efforts and basic emergency hygiene response.
- Launching our Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) response. This will include constructing hand washing stations in rural villages (where running water is scarce) and in our schools, women's centres, and childcare centres.
- Equipping local hospitals with protective gear and medical equipment. We work in close partnership with the ministry of health and have an extensive list of supplies that are in critical shortage.
- Ensuring the safe reopening of all of our programming. Starting last week we have begun gradually reopening programmes such as our women's psychosocial support and sexual and reproductive health programs in our Women's Centres. The needs for these programs are elevated as domestic violence increases and as mental health continues to deteriorate in situations of heightened social isolation and poverty. Schools are anticipated to reopen in the next 20-50 days and it is critical that we are able to reopen safely to protect our thousands of students, who are mostly girls, and those around them.
Afghanistan is at risk of a second wave as early as August that could be even more deadly than the first. And while the mortality rates and infection rates appear low, this is not reflective of reality. Early projections predicted that the virus could claim more than 110,000 lives.
But, with the right support there is still time to save thousands of lives. With your help we will be able to respond to the needs of thousands of Afghans that have already been enduring the compounding burdens of conflict, poverty, natural disaster, and disease for over 40 years.
COVID-19 is already exacerbating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and international aid does not nearly meet the social, economic, and health related needs of millions of Afghans. The loss of $1 billion dollars of American aid is being felt around the country.
We cannot afford to leave Afghan women and girls behind. As COVID-19 spreads rapidly through the country and with the US-Taliban peace accord precariously looming over women’s rights, as an international community we must mobilise to meet this critical moment.
There is too much at risk, and we desperately need your help.
For more information on our other programs please visit www.afghanistan-libre.org.
Thank you !
Organizer and beneficiary
Afghanistan Libre
Organizer
Paris
Louise Clément
Beneficiary
