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Afghanistan's medical system careens toward collapse

A woman enters the hospital in Mir Bacha Kot, Afghanistan, on Oct. 26, 2021. Health care workers continue to work without salaries, without medicine and with frequent power cuts as Afghanistan's economy crumbles. (Bram Janssen/AP)
A woman enters the hospital in Mir Bacha Kot, Afghanistan, on Oct. 26, 2021. Health care workers continue to work without salaries, without medicine and with frequent power cuts as Afghanistan's economy crumbles. (Bram Janssen/AP)

In Afghanistan, an escalating economic crisis has brought 23 million people close to starvation — more than half of the country’s population. That’s according to the United Nations, who along with other aid agencies is warning that the already dire situation could become a humanitarian disaster.

And it may become near impossible for those who need health care to receive it because Afghanistan’s economic collapse has pushed the medical system closer and closer to a breaking point.

Dave Michalski, Doctors Without Borders’ head of program, tells us more from Afghanistan.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.