Scaling up mobile and static PSS/PFA and COVID-19 RCCE services to increase the resilience of the most vulnerable, conflict and drought-affected individuals, whilst supporting healthcare staff capacity to respond to their needs across Herat, Nimroz and Kandahar Provinces. Fostering disability inclusion through inter-agency coordination and support to the Disability Inclusion Working Group. Afghanistan continues to face high levels of violence and conflict-induced displacement which, combined with increasing poverty, dry spells and natural disasters and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, are worsening Afghan communities’ vulnerability and reliance on negative coping mechanisms. Further to that, the not yet officially declared drought will put additional pressure on already strained resources, affecting individuals’ access to livelihoods and basic services such as WASH and health services, worsening people’s living conditions including their levels of physical and mental health. In this context of limited resources, Afghan healthcare prioritises the response to physical disease and needs, whilst the demand for mental support remains highly unmet: referral to PSS service providers, as well as community-based support are scarce countrywide.  

With poor sanitation and hygiene practices, conflict and disaster-affected populations are at greater risk of WASH-related morbidity and mortality. Further to that, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten the lives of Afghan people: under-testing, stigma, low vaccination turn-out and limited enforcement of preventative hygiene and social distancing measures are further exposing the population to the virus, increasing their levels of mental stress, whilst putting additional pressure on an overstretched healthcare system.

In this context, HI seeks to support conflict and drought-affected highly vulnerable IDPs, returnees and host communities through the provision of emergency static and mobile support across Herat, Nimroz and Kandahar provinces, as well as by providing direct support to identified health facilities in target areas. This action ultimately    aims to reduce the vulnerability to the health consequences of the drought, whilst enhancing communities’ positive coping mechanisms. It will do so by 1) Providing psychosocial support (PSS) services and psychosocial first aid (PFA) capacity building to communities whose levels of stress will intensify as a consequence of the drought. This will be done through both in-person (mobile and static teams) and remote support (helpline) 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. 2) Scaling up COVID-19 risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) to enhance clear and consistent messaging through stakeholders’ and community representatives support and use of accessible IEC materials 3) Increasing hygiene awareness in order to reduce highly vulnerable individuals and families’ exposure to COVID-19 through the provision of hygiene education and kits 4) Increasing health facilities’ capacity to respond to scaled-up healthcare needs by training identified health facilities’ staff in PFA and by supplying medical equipment to increase their capacity to respond without further straining existing resources. A total of six gender balanced teams will support communities across Dand and Daman districts (Kandahar province), Zaranj district (Nimroz province) and Injil and Guzara districts (Herat province), where HI will closely coordinate with partners on the ground to ensure the provision of comprehensive services through referral mechanism.  Field teams will be supported by a project officer and data base officers within each base. The action will target highly vulnerable individuals within at-risk populations who are often invisible to mainstream relief organisations due to the specificity of their needs – including people with disabilities, people experiencing psychosocial distress or mental health issues, etc. In addition, HI will support the newly-established Disability Inclusion Working Group (DIWG) by co-leading the WG and coordinating inter-cluster actions aimed at increasing visibility of and advocacy for the inclusion of people with disabilities.