Food and Medical Aid
The situation in central Asia is continually deteriorating due to the activities of extremist groups. Companies are closing, civil servants and pensioners are not being paid, the economy is in ruins and unemployment is high. The restrictions on women in the labor market have deprived many families of their last source of income. Many families can not even afford to buy enough food although it is available on the market. As a result, 15.3 million people are currently affected by acute food insecurity – especially widows, people with disabilities and internally displaced persons. Approximately every third child in the country is malnourished. SwissRelief supported these population groups with the distribution of food parcels. In 2023, over 25,200 families received food for one month as well as blankets and winter clothing for children.
Like her two brothers and three sisters, Nuur can no longer go to school. She expresses her gratitude for the help she received: “Fortunately, we received enough food from these kind people today. I am so happy that, for a few days, I don’t have to go begging and can play with my sisters.”
Many people can no longer afford to see a doctor. This makes the two clinics which SwissRelief has been supporting for many years all the more important. In the last year, over 110,000 patients, the vast majority of them women and children, received free or low-cost treatment in the internal medicine department, at the dentist, in the gynecology department, in the children’s and maternity wards, and in the large eye clinic. Many illnesses were recognized in time and treated with free medication from the drugstore. In addition, 300 patients per day were educated about general health and nutrition issues.
