Kifatullah, like most 9-year-olds, likes to play with his friends. One morning, they found something new to play with. They didn’t realise the object was leftover from the decades of war in Afghanistan. When it exploded, one of the children immediately died. Kifatullah and his other friend were badly injured. His uncle quickly found them…

K. M. and his friend had just been to a wedding in Sangin, in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. While waiting by the car to leave, the friend stepped on a landmine, killing him instantly and severely injuring K.M.’s face, eyes, and legs. Before losing consciousness, he remembers seeing one of his legs detached from his body.…

Jamil Gul was on his way to a phone repair shop when he was stabbed by robbers. When the 21-year-old arrived at our Surgical Centre in Kabul, he was quickly taken to the operating theatre for emergency surgery to repair the knife injuries to his left lung and a major artery under his collarbone. For…

The operation saved his life. Seven-year-old Omar lives in Afghanistan, a country still recovering from more than four decades of war. In April, Omar and two of his family members were rushed to the Kabul Surgical Centre after a landmine exploded, just one of tens of thousands of unexploded ordnance littering the country. One of…

“Right now, our presence here is critical for cardiac patients in need of treatment and for surgical emergencies that cannot be treated in hospitals that have been bombed or closed.”  From Sudan, our colleagues tell us why it is necessary to stay in the country. The war that began in April continues, and fighting has…

Ajmal and his nephew were riding a motorcycle to visit his father in the hospital when they were in a road traffic accident. An ambulance brought Ajmal from a hospital in Wardak province to EMERGENCY’s Surgical Centre in Kabul. The accident had caused serious trauma to his head and chest, and multiple bone fractures in…

Hashim was riding his motorbike to the bazaar in Grishk, Afghanistan when he was hit by a car. While fighting in Helmand province, once a hub of conflict, has subsided, civilian trauma from road traffic accidents, stabbings and other injuries still requires major surgical interventions. The driver quickly brought him to EMERGENCY’s First Aid Post…

Amir does not speak. He does not know if he ever will again, because a landmine has torn his vocal cords. The friend he was walking with on the road where the bomb lay is dead. His father Munir, however, translates his every gesture and expression into words. Since Amir was injured three months ago,…

Major flooding and landslides have affected several districts near Kabul. EMERGENCY’s First Aid Posts in Jalrez and Ghurband have received 10 wounded, and two dead on arrival. As countries around the world are affected by natural disasters, those with already weakened health systems suffer greatly. “At our First Aid Post in Jalrez, the water and…

A pot of milk was boiling on the stove for Amir and his brother, when it spilled and burned the little boy.  Amir is one-and-a-half years old and weighs just 10kg, which places him below the 25th weight percentile for his age group. Amidst the economic crisis, nearly 2.3 million Afghan children are expected to…