Emergency physical rehabilitation services and psychosocial support for the earthquake- affected populations, with a specific focus on persons with disabilities, in Barmal and Giyan districts in Paktika Province. A magnitude 5.9 earthquake heavily affected the provinces of Paktika and Khost, in June 2022, resulting in 362,000 people in need of  humanitarian assistance. Critical infrastructure sustained damage and needs are high across all the sectors, specifically with regards to health and shelter. Both Provinces, due to their  geographical remote locations , had been facing very high humanitarian needs even before the earthquake, In this already complex and undeserved context, natural disasters, such as earthquakes, are a significant cause of physical and mental  impairment due to increased rates of injury, lack of medical care and disruption of medical health care services and stress. Acknowledging that persons with disabilities are at higher risk of being left behind as they are facing additional barriers in accessing humanitarian support and considering the increased needs of  physically impaired earthquake victims, HI will deploy gender balanced teams of  social workers, physiotherapists and psycho-social support workers to enhance the resilience of the affected communities, specifically persons with disabilities by providing tailored psycho social support and physical rehabilitation services. HI will target Barmal and Giyan districts in Paktika Province, as they were identified as the one with the highest needs. In each district HI will deploy one mobile team that will be roving across the most remote and undeserved villages and one static team  to ensure timely referral from health facilities. The static team will work in containers that will be set up and made accessible.  A total of four gender balanced teams will support communities across the Giyan and Barmal Districts.  Hi will ensure that the targeted communities are sensitized on the topic of disability and are aware of the services provided by HI. 
This action ultimately aims to reduce the vulnerability to the health consequences of the earthquake, whilst enhancing communities’ positive coping mechanisms. It will do so by 1) sensitizing communities and community health workers on disability, referral mechanism and early detection of disabilities 2) Providing physical rehabilitation services to people with disabilities and at risk of developing a long term disability. HI team will be also providing beneficiaries with assistive devices, whenever assessed as necessary. 
2) Providing psycho-social support (PSS) services and psycho-social first aid (PFA) capacity building for community health workers  whose levels of stress intensified as a consequence of the earthquake. This will be done through in-person (mobile and static teams) to ensure broader outreach and follow-up of identified patients. In addition, HI will distribute tailored PSS kits to highly vulnerable identified cases which will enhance PSS provided during in-person sessions. 
The action will target highly vulnerable individuals within at-risk populations who are often invisible to mainstream relief organizations due to the specificity of their needs – including people with disabilities, people experiencing psycho-social distress or mental health issues, etc. In addition, HI will also ensure awareness sessions to 20 humanitarian workers on Inclusive Humanitarian Action and HI referral mechanism pathway. 
HI aims to reach out to approximately 4,740 beneficiaries, among whom 2,566 persons with disabilities.