30 May 2024, Kabul, Afghanistan – Afghanistan’s health system has suffered decades of instability made worse by natural and climate change-related disasters, like earthquakes and floods. These challenges have severely affected the country’s ability to cope with health crises, including the ongoing fight against dengue, first detected in Afghanistan in 2019.

In 2022 and 2023, dengue spread along 7 border provinces in Afghanistan’s eastern and south-eastern regions. The infectious disease threatened about 5 million people living in high-risk areas due to rapid population movements.