© 2026 Boise State Public Radio
NPR in Idaho
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

COVID-19, Malnutrition And Women's Health: Afghanistan Faces Multiple Public Health Crises

A doctor fills a syringe with the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 16, 2021. (Rahmat Gul/AP)
A doctor fills a syringe with the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 16, 2021. (Rahmat Gul/AP)

Only 219,000 of Afghanistan’s 38 million people — .6% — are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. About 2% have received a single dose.

World Health Organization medical staff are expressing concern about a new spread of the disease following the Taliban take-over.

Yet, COVID-19 isn’t the only immediate public health crisis there as disrupted air traffic prevents critical medical supplies from getting to the region, making malnutrition and other chronic health issues harder to treat.

Host Peter O’Dowd talks to Rick Brennan, the WHO’s regional emergency director of the office for the Eastern Mediterranean, who is in Cairo, Egypt.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

You make stories like this possible.

The biggest portion of Boise State Public Radio's funding comes from readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

Your donation today helps make our local reporting free for our entire community.