The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday he had met the health minister in the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan for talks on the "dire" health and humanitarian crisis in the country.

image1

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed that he met Qalander Ebad for talks on Tuesday.

Ebad is part of a Taliban delegation visiting Geneva for a week of talks with institutions and non-governmental agencies on humanitarian access and human rights, as Afghanistan’s new rulers expand their international engagement.

The Taliban movement returned to power in Kabul in mid-August as the United States ended its 20-year war in Afghanistan.

Since then, Afghanistan has plunged into financial chaos, with inflation and unemployment surging, while the halting of aid and US sanctions has triggered a humanitarian crisis in a country already devastated by decades of war.

Tedros had already met Ebad during his visit to Kabul in September 2021 in the wake of the Taliban takeover.

"Despite some improvements since then, the health situation in Afghanistan is still dire and the acute humanitarian crisis is continuing to put lives at risk," Tedros said.

He said they discussed health needs in the country, strengthening the system, emergency preparedness, and training the health workforce, in which women are central.

"The acute need in Afghanistan is to deliver diagnostics to detect the COVID-19 virus, and in particular Omicron, as the number of cases is on the rise," Tedros said.