Public health care facilities in Afghanistan, such as Mazar-i-Sharif Regional Hospital in Balkh province, are struggling to cover essential running costs like staff salaries, medicines and medical supplies, fuel, and oxygen supplies, due to the lack of long-term structural support for the health sector in the country.
Mazar-i-Sharif Regional Regional Hospital is the only regional referral hospital in the entire province and also supports neighboring provinces. In August 2023, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) started supporting pediatric activities at the hospital in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health. MSF currently runs the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), and the emergency room for children up to the age of 15.
