Afghanistan

The people of Afghanistan continue to grapple with a complex and protracted humanitarian crisis. Almost 23 million people need humanitarian aid in 2025 due to economic collapse, widespread hunger, climate disasters and severe rights restrictions, imposed especially on women and girls. This includes some 1.3 million returning refugees, mainly from Iran and Pakistan, who need assistance as they resettle in Afghanistan. 

Millions of women living in remote areas have little or no access to healthcare, and the country remains one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth, with high rates of women dying during pregnancy, childbirth or its aftermath from causes that would be largely preventable with access to skilled care. An estimated 24,000 women who give birth each month in hard-to-reach areas of the country face particular challenges reaching hospitals or health facilities, and vital protection services for women and girls who are at risk of gender-based violence are also extremely limited. 

UNFPA’s work in Afghanistan focuses on providing life-saving reproductive health services and psychosocial support to women, by women, through 582 facilities in all 34 provinces. Working with national partners, UNFPA also supports 385 family health houses, which are staffed by community midwives who support safe births in remote areas of 20 provinces, as well as 89 mobile health teams who screen mothers, pregnant women and children for malnutrition and provide maternal and child healthcare in 27 provinces. In addition, UNFPA-supported psychosocial counselling centres in provincial and district-level government hospitals provide free, confidential physical and mental health support for women and girls.

Updated 6 August 2025