As the war spreads and intensifies in Afghanistan, it is becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous for Afghan people to seek out even the most basic healthcare.
Throughout the country, the reality is that few health centres that exist on paper are actually functioning. They lack drugs and trained medical staff, and roads have become difficult and dangerous to use. For patients, accessing the few health structures that do operate entails great risk and expense.
At Boost hospital, in Lashkargah, capital of Helmand province, international and Afghan MSF staff work alongside hospital staff to deliver free, high-quality medical care. It is one of the few functioning referral hospitals in south Afghanistan.
Photos by photojournalist Kate Holt
At this hospital, over half of the patients come from outside Lashkargah and often cover huge distances to get to the hospital. 20-year old Fatima, featured in the film, drove five hours while in agonising labour. Her local clinic was empty and had no medicines, she said. Outside of Lashkargah, even the most basic healthcare is difficult to come by.
Abdullah brought his five year old daughter, paralysed for the last four days, to Boost hospital for medical attention. His worst fear is that she might have polio; there’s never been a vaccination program in his remote village and the family has been displaced for more than a year by ongoing violence.
Since MSF started its work at the end of 2009, Boost hospital has become a weapon-free health structure. MSF has found that being treated in a place that is free of military and weapons is crucial to reassuring patients who come for help.
As Abdullah points out: “There is a war in Afghanistan... we need a good clinic, in a safe place.”