Treatment and control of communicable diseases in Afghanistan

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Communicable diseases, including Polio, Malaria and TB, remain an ongoing problem for many parts of Afghanistan. Our project works with the most vulnerable people to improve the prevention and treatment of these avoidable diseases.

Routine immunisations

By increasing routine immunisation in children we are helping to eradicate Polio in areas where it remains an ongoing concern. This is done through outreach and mobile services in remote and hard to reach communities. We provide training for vaccinators, and improve the supply of vaccines and storage, so that all our health facilities and community health workers can carry out routine immunisations for children.

Read more about our healthcare services

Preventing and treating malaria

Malaria remains a major public health concern, particularly in eastern and southern provinces located along the border with Pakistan. Through distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and community interventions we are helping to control and decline the prevalence of malaria in Laghman and Kunar. Improvements to the supply of medicines for diagnosis and treatment of malaria have been made to health facilities and health posts. Last year 557,626 LLINs were distributed across Laghman and Kunar provinces, and 64,093 confirmed malaria cases were treated with recommended first line antimalarial medicine at health facility and community level.

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Distribution of mosquito nets in Laghman province.

Detection and prevention of Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a major public health challenge in Afghanistan. From screening, to laboratory diagnostics, we are helping to reduce the prevalence and improve access to treatment for TB.

  • Increase detection of TB through widespread screening in children, prisoners, internally displaced persons and in rural areas and referring suspect cases to clinics and hospitals.  
  • Improve accessibility to TB treatment and improve contact management and suspect management in all clinics and hospitals.  
  • Enhance the quality of lab services and diagnostics, and enhance diagnostic network on MDR-TB including rapid diagnostic methods.  
  • Work with communities to improve knowledge around TB and to reduce stigmas associated. 
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Improving the quality of laboratory services for better diagnosis is just one of the ways we are helping to eradicate tuberculosis.
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