The humanitarian impact in the two districts was severe: people were left without access to food and essential services, resulting in dire humanitarian needs. According to the authorities and the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), approximately 17,000 households (136,000 individuals) were affected.
Since early April, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) and UN agencies engaged in sustained dialogue with all parties to the armed conflict to establish conditions for neutral and impartial humanitarian assistance to the two districts. On 21 April, a joint humanitarian response – coordinated by the ICRC, ARCS and World Food Programme (WFP) – was initiated.
The response included the delivery of food, medical supplies and other essential relief items. The ICRC delivered nine trucks weighing 17 metric tonnes of medical supplies, essential items and physical rehabilitation devices for communities in need. The medical supplies were distributed to hospitals, health centres and ARCS mobile health teams to ensure continued provision of health care services in Kamdesh District Hospital and Bargi-Matal Basic Health Centre. The medical supplies included weapon-wounded kits, dressing packages, intravenous (IV) packages and oxygen cylinders. In parallel, ARCS mobile health teams and volunteers operating in both affected districts were equipped with dressing and oral packages, IV packages and First Aid kits, enabling them to provide rapid frontline assistance to affected communities in hard-to-reach areas.
At the same time, the ICRC’s Physical Rehabilitation Centre (PRC) in Jalalabad supported 150 people with disabilities and patients requiring rehabilitation services in the affected regions with wheelchairs, crutches and walking frames. In the Kamdesh and Bargi-Matal Districts, 34 people with disabilities received physical rehabilitation services through the District Hospital Physiotherapy Department.
Additionally, the ICRC provided water purification and hygiene items including chlorine, soap to ensure safe water and sanitation for 12,000 households.
Approximately 17,000 households, representing 136,000 people in Kamdesh and Barg-i-Matal Districts received food assistance. The WFP delivered 1,041 metric tonnes of food (wheat flour, vegetable oil, salt and pulses) with up to 15 trucks per day delivering supplies for over nine days. The packages distributed to each family included 50 kilogrammes of wheat flour, 6.25 kilogrammes of yellow split peas, 0.5 kilogrammes of salt, and 5 liters of cooking oil to meet their food security needs.
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