The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) called an urgent meeting Sunday of senior health-care officials to address the outbreak of acute diarrhea in the Kafshan Valley of Ghurbund district in Parwan province.
This comes after concerns were raised last week by Parwan officials who confirmed that over 500 people had come down with a mystery illness.
Hekmatullah Shamim, the governor’s spokesman, said the affected people had all fallen ill over four-days.
The IEA’s Ministry of Health sent officials to the affected area and blood samples were taken from patients for analysis.
In a statement issued Sunday by the ministry, the deputy minister for health services Mawlawi Abdulwali Haqqani called the meeting, which was attended by central directors from the ministry, representatives from the infectious disease hospital and other experts.
Haqqani ordered specialized health teams to be deployed to the affected area and ordered a follow up meeting to be convened with World Health Organization representatives and other health partners.
The teams deployed to the area will focus on raising public awareness, assessing the health status of patients, and ensuring the provision of comprehensive medical facilities for both patients and local residents.
“These efforts are critical to facilitate urgent interventions necessary to mitigate the outbreak,” the statement read.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Afghanistan is grappling with significant health challenges marked by a fragile healthcare system and unequal access to services, particularly in rural areas.
In their latest report published last week, the Health Cluster Afghanistan Bulletin for August 2024, the WHO said there is a looming threat of disease outbreaks, including acute watery diarrhea (AWD), measles, Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), dengue fever, COVID-19, pertussis (whooping cough), and malaria.
In August 2024, a total of 402,920 cases of acute diarrheal disease were reported, representing 14.6 percent of total consultations.
Out of the total acute diarrheal disease cases, 23,801 new AWD, with dehydration, cases were reported in August, resulting in 10 deaths.
So far this year, total of 125,471 AWD cases with dehydration and 60 associated deaths were reported, the WHO report stated.
