Health

*Note: Unless otherwise noted, all information regarding health programming in Afghanistan is from 2019. Recent updates temporarily unavailable for safety and security reasons.

The Bayat Foundation The Bayat Foundation has nourished the lives of Afghans by empowering women’s health since 2005 through the construction of thirteen (13) hospitals and clinics nationwide that have treated nearly four (4) million patients, as well as, responding to natural disasters and crises with its mobile clinic. The foundation is presently undertaking renovation the pediatric wing of Herat Regional Hospital which was damaged in the 2024 earthquake. The foundation has also responded to Afghanistan’s increasing famine and drought crises by accelerating and scaling its humanitarian response activities. In 2023, the Foundation shipped more than one (1) million prepackaged emergency meals for distribution among internally displaced people (IDP) and refugee camps nationwide, and also distributed more than 750,000 servings of vitamin-enriched infant formula for impacted children younger than 12 months. To address the ongoing drought, the Foundation also expanded its water accessibility program and drilled new wells in dozens of districts nationwide. (Updated 2024)

HEEDA promotes a culture of impact and sustainability in Afghanistan through humanitarian, health, education, and economic development aid. Since its founding in 2010, HEEDA has created culturally sensitive programs and research to improve the lives of Afghans. HEEDA is currently working on-site in Afghanistan to organize and deploy humanitarian assistance to families affected by displacement and conflict. In 2023, HEEDA assisted refugees with the International Rescue Committee in the USA and their work in Afghanistan.  HEEDA also supported 270 families in and around Kabul by providing food aid and housing assistance, building 3 wells for water access to internally displaced communities and hospitals, and building shelters/homes for homeless or housing-insecure families. (Updated 2024)

The Lamia Afghan Foundation  The Lamia Afghan Foundation (LAF) was established in 2008 to improve the lives of girls and women through the building of schools (eight built) for girls, by providing economic opportunities for women, and by providing vocational and job training for women. The LAF also provided humanitarian aid to needy families in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)/Refugee camps, orphanages, schools, hospitals, and rural villages.  To date, the LAF has sent over 3.5 million pounds of humanitarian aid to 22 provinces in Afghanistan, supported four hospitals in Kabul with equipment and supplies, moved an ambulance from Chicago to a clinic LAF helped to build in Khairabad, in western Afghanistan, and humanitarian supplies for distribution to villages in Laghman, Nangarhar, and Nuristan Provinces to help refugee returnees from Pakistan.  The LAF had provided teachers for a school in the largest IDP Camp in Kabul. In the health sector, The LAF continues the work of their women’s medical clinic with a young Afghan woman doctor caring for many women and girls by delivering babies and performing surgeries. Furthermore, LAF worked to feed families in Afghanistan as well as getting their foundation employees and families to the United States, through the U.S. State Department P-2 process. As a result of LAF’s continued work in Afghanistan, 775 people were directly supported. Within those supported, hundreds of girls were educated, many women safely delivered babies, and girls were healed through improved health care and surgeries. (Updated 2024)

Relief International (RI) is an alliance of international non-governmental organizations that partners with communities impacted by conflict, climate change and disaster to save lives, build greater resilience and promote long-term health and wellbeing. In Afghanistan, Relief International is helping to rebuild Afghanistan’s crippled healthcare system by rehabilitating and equipping medical facilities, and training doctors, midwives, female medical staff and surgeons to work in remote areas cut off from services. In 2023, RI provided health and nutrition services with support from WHO, UNICEF, and AHF-OCHA in the provinces of Panjsher, Nimroz, Wardak, Logar, Ghazni, Kapisa, Parwan, and Paktya. Through its health and nutrition services, RI improved the health conditions of women and children in the targeted provinces of Panjsher, Nimroz, Wardak, Logar, Ghazni, Kapisa, Parwan, and Paktya. Furthermore, RI supported static health facilities by offering primary health care services, including OPD (outpatient department) consultations, maternal and child health services (ANC, PNC, delivery, child health including immunization, and integrated management of childhood illnesses and newborn services), nutrition services, management of infectious diseases, ear, nose, and throat (ENT) care, ophthalmology, and gynecology services to individuals of all genders and age groups, covering men, women, boys, and girls. RI also supported women and their families financially by employing over 400 women in Afghanistan. (Updated 2024)

Women for Afghan Women  operates life-saving and life-changing programs and advocates for women’s and girls’ rights in Afghanistan and the United States. WAW advances its mission as a community-based human rights organization by working deep into the community and respecting its clients’ cultures, religions, and traditions. After the 2021 crisis and dealing with a new reality in Afghanistan, WAW has developed and expanded new programs and services that deliver humanitarian aid and other support to meet the essential needs of the most vulnerable individuals, families, and communities. Today, WAW employs 462 local staff members in Afghanistan, 18% of whom are women, and manages 21 field offices across 18 Afghan provinces. In Afghanistan, WAW’s teams work independently and in partnership with strategic and local partners to provide a comprehensive network of humanitarian aid, logistics support, protection, psychosocial, and other support services to nearly 900,000 individuals annually with a focus on women-led households, girls, vulnerable children, internally displaced persons, and refugee returnees. In the United States, WAW operates two community centers in New York and Virginia that are lifelines for thousands of Afghan-American and other immigrant communities, including newly arrived refugees from Afghanistan. Both centers employ family-centered approaches, building trust with communities and working within them to foster positive change. WAW’s centers provide direct, comprehensive services including remote (phone or online) support to immigrant women and their families, asylum seekers, and survivors of domestic violence by providing access to free services that include education, mental health, legal support, and job placement that serve over 3,000 individuals, mostly women, annually. (Updated 2024)