New shipment of WHO life-saving medical supplies arrives in Kabul
Nov 08, 2021
Geneva [Switzerland], November 8 : An aircraft carrying around 7 metric tonnes of lifesaving medical supplies arrived in Kabul from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with the operations and logistic teams of Qatar Airways and the Qatar government.
According to an official statement by WHO, the medicines and supplies landed in Kabul on November 4.
This is the fourth flight carrying WHO supplies to arrive in Afghanistan from Doha since August 30, 2021.
According to the statement, the supplies include medicines for the treatment of 5000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, diarrhoea, pneumonia, upper respiratory infections, and other conditions.
"Health needs in Afghanistan are greater than ever before, and we are moving quickly to address shortages in medical supplies to keep life-saving health services running. Children are the tragic victims of the country's failing health system.
WHO is grateful for the support of the Government of Qatar to ensure that they have access to the life-saving medicines they need to survive and thrive. This show of ongoing solidarity is a concrete demonstration of our regional vision in action: health for all people, with the support all people," said Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.
Since August 30, four flights from Qatar to Afghanistan have delivered a total of 60 metric tonnes of WHO supplies, which are enough to cover the urgent health needs of almost 1.5 million people, said the statement.
"The State of Qatar commends WHO for sending urgent life-saving aid to Afghanistan in these difficult times. As Qatar continues to support Afghanistan through airlifting aid facilitating travel, it urges the international community to continue providing urgent aid to Afghanistan, especially with the spread of new COVID-19 variants and the winter season approaching," said Dr Mutlaq AlQahtani, Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Counterterrorism and Mediation in Conflict Resolution.
