صراط عشق صراط عشق
Unemployment exacerbates the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, and people with disabilities suffer the worst.
According to Reliefweb’s report, It has been a long time since Mahfouza, disabled and a mother of two living in Faizabad, Afghanistan, has seen a banknote. So long that he can’t even remember the difference between 100 and 500 Afghani bills. Mahfouza, who has been pushed into extreme poverty without any means of livelihood, says that they have neither enough food to eat nor enough clothes to wear. “A neighbor gave my children some of his second-hand clothes. They have to divide it between them – one wears the shirt and the other wears the pants,” he says.
Mahfouza, is among the 28 million people in Afghanistan — 65 percent of the population — now in need of humanitarian aid. Decades of conflict, natural disasters and economic challenges have fueled poverty in all sectors as people struggle to find ways to make ends meet. Children, the elderly, people with physical disabilities and daily wage workers are the most affected.
Islamuddin, a father of five who lost his legs and right hand in the bomb blast, describes their condition as “terrible”. “I gather wild herbs from the mountains and cook them with some oil to feed my children,” he says.
In response to the humanitarian crisis, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has established a safety net program to provide financial support to people with disabilities who are the breadwinners of their families but have no means of subsistence.
It’s also stated, between February and March 2023, 3,862 families of persons with disabilities received cash assistance through this program at six physical rehabilitation centers supported by the ICRC. Individuals included in the Safety Net program are individually assessed through home visits conducted by ICRC staff, including physiotherapists, to ensure they meet the criteria required for the grant.
Given the extent of the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan today, long-term solutions are needed, including the resumption of critical projects that are currently on hold and investment by governments and development agencies in critical infrastructure across the country.
The International Committee of the Red Cross welcomes any decision that enables Afghan families to better cope with dire economic conditions and calls on the international community and development organizations to resume investment in Afghanistan to prevent the situation from worsening.
