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COVID-19, Malnutrition And Women's Health: Afghanistan Faces Multiple Public Health Crises

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A doctor fills a syringe with the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 16, 2021. (Rahmat Gul/AP)
A doctor fills a syringe with the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 16, 2021. (Rahmat Gul/AP)

Only 219,000 of Afghanistan's 38 million people — .6% — are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. About 2% have received a single dose.

World Health Organization medical staff are expressing concern about a new spread of the disease following the Taliban take-over.

Yet, COVID-19 isn't the only immediate public health crisis there as disrupted air traffic prevents critical medical supplies from getting to the region, making malnutrition and other chronic health issues harder to treat.

Host Peter O'Dowd talks to Rick Brennan, the WHO's regional emergency director of the office for the Eastern Mediterranean, who is in Cairo, Egypt.

This segment aired on August 24, 2021.

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