KABUL (SW) – Gripped by the severe second wave of coronavirus pandemic, many in Afghanistan are struggling to ensure safety and hygiene.
Yet there are some people, particularly among the millions in the nomad community, who remain totally clueless about the Covid-19.
Sher Gul and Khan Agha are two nomads from Faryab who live near the Afghan-Turkmen border. They told Salam Watandar that they were absolutely not aware of the corona virus.
According to them, if anyone in their area is infected with the corona virus, there is no doctor to treat them. The nomads said no one has yet been informed about the corona virus and they have only heard once on the radio that the virus has spread and infected people around the world.
Mohammad Gul Noorkhel, head of the Faryab nomads ‘council, confirmed the nomads’ claims, saying that up to 80 percent of nomads in Faryab were unaware of the virus and that no organization has so far educated them about the corona virus.
Zabih Ullah, Faryab’s director of nomadic affairs, told Salam Watandar that nomads in Faryab had not been seriously taken into consideration in this regard. According to him, so far 40 nomads in the province have been infected with the virus and are now bedridden in their homes. He added that he had instructed people infected with the virus to quarantine themselves in their homes.
According to him, only few hundred out of 5,000 to 7,000 households of nomads have been given public awareness.
Commenting on this, Naeem Masim, director of public health in Faryab, told Salam Watandar that every week a mobile team travels to the nomads’ areas to not only raise awareness about the coronavirus, but also to distribute medicine and medical kits.
Officials at the Faryab nomadic affairs department warned that if the nomads are not taken care of in the second wave of the corona virus, they will face a human catastrophe.
ENDS
