20 March 2025, Kabul, Afghanistan – The European Union (EU) has agreed to finance   EMERGENCY with EUR 5 million grant supporting medical training programmes across the health facilities ran by EMERGENCY in Afghanistan. The 3-year project will improve access to high-quality healthcare services in the country through specialised skills development for residents, nurses and midwives.

Afghanistan continues to suffer persistent multifaceted crises that have left nearly two-thirds of the population living in multi-dimensional poverty and over half in need of humanitarian assistance. Meanwhile, many essential health sector workers left the country after August 2021, and restrictions on women and girls’ education jeopardize the sustainability of the health workforce. As a result, many Afghans struggle to afford healthcare and public services are failing to meet the population’s immense needs.

The EU’s funding contributes to EMERGENCY’s continuous training of hundreds of local medical staff across its free health facilities in Kabul, Helmand (Lashkar-Gah) and Panjshir (Anabah). It builds on and complements the long standing EU support through ECHO aid seeking to bridge the humanitarian – basic human needs divide. 

The medical training programmes will increase both individual and collective capacity, while enhancing availability of free and high-quality services for the Afghan population. 

EU Chargée d’affaires Ms Veronika Boskovic Pohar stressed that ‘this project represents more than just an investment in healthcare system. It is an investment in the people of Afghanistan. By enhancing the skills of healthcare professionals and empowering women within the sector, we aim to provide better patient care and improve healthcare outcomes which should turn into a healthier, more equitable future of all Afghans’. 

‘At the heart of this project lies a vision where every healthcare worker in Afghanistan, whether in a bustling city or an underserved rural community, has the skills, resources and support needed to provide exceptional care to every patient’ commented Mr Dejan Panic, EMERGENCY’s Afghanistan Country Director. “Our goal is not just to increase healthcare capacity in the short-term, but also to build a strong, adaptable system that delivers better care for all Afghans, now and in the future’. 

Throughout the 36-month period of the project, the training programmes target 75 residents - including 15 Afghan women - in specialties such as surgery, anaesthesia, obstetrics and gynaecology and paediatrics. Whilst introductory specialised and continuous professional development programmes aim to train 420 nurses, including 140 female and 65 midwives.

For more information please contact:

Kevin Mendes

Political Officer, EUD to Afghanistan

Email: kevin.mendes@eeas.europa.eu 

Emilia Alessandra Viganoni

Grants Manager Afghanistan, EMERGENCY Afghanistan

E-Mail: grants.afghanistan@emergency.it