A research team, including Afghan doctor Ahmad Fuad Jibran, has won Germany’s prestigious Academic Medicine Award.

Last week, the German Association of Medical Faculties awarded its annual medical prize to a team from Göttingen University for their groundbreaking research on a “Heart Adhesive.”

This innovative “Heart Adhesive” is a globally unique approach that uses artificial heart tissue and stem cells to repair damaged heart tissue and regenerate heart muscles.

Jibran, an Afghan national, was among the 14 distinguished physicians honored for their contributions to this revolutionary medical advancement.

This achievement follows another recent milestone for Afghan professionals: Norweja Ahmadi, a young Afghan woman, secured a position with the UK General Medical Council.

The Islamic Emirate has appealed to the World Health Organization to equip and strengthen Afghanistan’s health sector and to support Afghanistan’s pharmaceutical production sector. 

Dr. Hanan Balkhy, the World Health Organization's director for the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, met in Kabul this week for talks with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the IEA’s foreign minister. 

During the meeting, Muttaqi asked the World Health Organization to assist Afghanistan and to help it achieve self-sufficiency in the pharmaceutical production sector. 

Balkhy meanwhile said that he was trying to garner support for Afghanistan from leading health experts around the world. 

Christopher Elias, head of global development for the Bill Gates Foundation, also attended this meeting and said his organization was trying to take effective measures to eliminate the polio virus in Afghanistan. 

Polio cases increase

Elias’ comment comes after the WHO stated that the forced repatriation of Afghan nationals from Pakistan was a “major setback” for polio eradication efforts and that it contributed to the regional resurgence of the disease.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two polio-endemic nations in the world and so far this year, the two countries have reported 49 and 23 cases respectively; up from only six cases each in 2023.

The latest case in Pakistan was confirmed last week in the southwestern province of Balochistan, which sits on the Afghan border and accounts for half the cases reported in 2024.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has said that Pakistan's crackdown on undocumented foreign nationals has resulted in more than 730,000 Afghan migrants returning to Afghanistan since August 2023.

More than six million people accessed essential health and nutrition services at UNICEF-supported health facilities last month, the UN agency said in its latest Humanitarian Situation Report for September 1 to 30.

UNICEF said of the 6.1 million people who accessed essential health and nutrition services, half of them were children under the age of five.

In addition, 50 schools in 10 provinces gained access to safe water, handwashing facilities, and newly constructed or rehabilitated toilet facilities.

However, as of September, UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) appeal for children in Afghanistan is only 41 percent funded.

Afghanistan remains one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with 23.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance following decades of conflict, extreme climate shocks, and severe economic decline.

UNICEF also stated that this year, 33 percent of the population receives most of their income from unsustainable income sources, compared to 26 percent in 2023.