The international relief organisation CARE has warned that cuts in humanitarian aid are driving Afghanistan\u2019s health system deeper into crisis, with about 150 health facilities across the country having suspended operations or closed since the start of 2026.<\/p>\n
In a report marking five years since the Taliban returned to power, the organisation said continued declines in funding are threatening access for millions of people to health care, nutrition services, education and humanitarian support. According to the report, 21.9 million people, nearly half of Afghanistan\u2019s population, need humanitarian assistance this year, while the country\u2019s humanitarian response has received only about one-quarter of the funding required.<\/p>\n
CARE also said falling financial resources had forced it to shut 30 of its own clinics this year. The situation comes as the World Health Organization previously said nearly 150 health centres had either closed or been unable to continue operating since the start of 2026 because of funding shortages.<\/p>\n
According to the WHO, the crisis has made it harder for people to access basic health services, maternal and child care, vaccinations and essential treatment. The agency added that 14.4 million people in Afghanistan need health services and that the country\u2019s humanitarian health programme was only about 15% funded by the end of June.<\/p>\n
The reports say women and girls are bearing the brunt of the growing health and humanitarian crisis. The WHO estimates that between April and September 2026, nearly 3.7 million children under the age of five and 1.2 million pregnant or breastfeeding women are at risk of acute malnutrition.<\/p>\n
The organisation also said Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the region, with 638 deaths per 100,000 live births. In this situation, the closure of health centres could further limit women\u2019s access, especially in remote areas, to pre- and postnatal care and emergency services.<\/p>\n
CARE stressed that restrictions on women and girls\u2019 education, work, freedom of movement and participation in public life have made the crisis in essential services more complex. The organisation said that without female doctors, nurses, midwives and other female staff, providing care to more than 10 million women and girls who will need humanitarian assistance in 2026 will face serious difficulties.<\/p>\n
CARE is an international relief organisation working in health, food and humanitarian support. In recent years, Afghanistan has faced mounting pressure on essential services, especially health care, as humanitarian needs have grown and international funding has declined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CARE warns aid cuts are pushing Afghanistan\u2019s health system into deeper crisis, with 150 health centres closed or shut since 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}