GENEVA: More than 500 tonnes of medical supplies including surgical equipment and severe malnutrition kits due to be delivered to Afghanistan this week are stuck because of Kabul airport restrictions, the World Health Organization said on Monday (Aug 23).
Aid agencies say it is critical that medical and food supplies reach some 300,000 people displaced in Afghanistan over the past two months amid advances by the Taliban insurgents that culminated in the capture of Kabul on Aug 15.
Nearly 18.5 million people – half the population – rely on aid and the humanitarian needs are expected to grow due to drought.
“While the eyes of the world now are on the people being evacuated and the planes leaving, we need to get supplies in to help those who are left behind,” WHO spokesperson Inas Hamam said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
Source: Channel News Asia
