A year of the Taliban: poverty and hunger in Afghanistan, 'dry bread is not even available'

 Patients in a dilapidated hospital ward in southern Afghanistan are just one symptom of the humanitarian crisis that has gripped the war-torn country since the Taliban returned to power a year ago.

According to the news agency AFP, poverty and hunger are most acutely felt in the southern districts of Afghanistan.

Due to drought and financial difficulties, the country that cannot buy grain is also having the effects of not getting wheat in the world market, which has become expensive after Russia's attack on Ukraine.

Following the outbreak of cholera in Helmand province last month, the Musa Qila District Hospital was closed to all patients except suspected cholera patients.

The hospital was filled with cholera patients in no time, but then syringes and injections became scarce.

The district hospital in Helmand has inadequate facilities for cholera testing and in a few days 550 patients were admitted who fell ill due to lack of clean drinking water and sanitation in the area.

"It is a very difficult time," hospital chief Ehsanullah Rudi told AFP.

After the outbreak of cholera, the hospital staff gets only five hours of sleep due to overwork.

The United Nations says that Afghanistan has the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

Poverty and hunger in Afghanistan

"Since the Emirate (Taliban) came to power, we are not even getting cooking oil," said a woman sitting on a hospital bed with her six-month-old grandson in Lashkargah, the provincial capital of Helmand.

The woman said that poor people are being crushed.

The woman's grandson has been admitted to the hospital for the fifth time. The hospital in Helmand is jointly run by the Afghanistan Ministry of Health and Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Each bed of this hospital is being occupied by two weak and weak children who are malnourished and their strength is being restored through drips.

Breshna, the mother of another sick child, said, "We don't even have dry bread."

According to Breshna, his age is between 15 and 20 years. She says that 'we don't get anything to eat for three or four days.'

Assistant Nursing Supervisor Humira Nowrozi said that she does not get time to rest.

"We get a lot of patients who are in critical condition because the parents don't have the resources to travel to get the children to the hospital quickly."

He said that the exact number of deaths could not be known because many patients could not come to the hospital.