Thalassemia is a blood disorder that is prevalent throughout much of Southeast Asia. Child Foundation funds the only free thalassemia pediatric clinic in Afghanistan, which treats nearly 200 patients who need blood transfusions and other treatments three to four times a month. In Afghanistan, treatment is extremely hard to come by, and without regular medical care, children may not live past their fifth birthday. The clinic is part of Mazar-e Sharif Hospital. Improvements to the clinic are needed to save even more lives, including better equipment and more medical training for Mazar-e Sharif’s medical community. The staff also need high fresh supplies each month to provide live-saving treatment safely. With increased resources, we can provide the needed medications, care, and staff expertise these children need.
February 2022 UPDATE – Many hospitals and clinics in Afghanistan are shutting down due to a lack of resources. As a result, more and more patients are finding their way to our clinic. Families desperate to save their children are traveling from far away. Help us respond to this urgent need.
DONATE TO SAVE LIVES in the clinic
Child Foundation’s goal is to help all children who come to the clinic so that they can eventually reach a stable level of health that allows them to be enrolled in school. We’re proud that many of the clinic’s patients are already well enough to go to school and have found a sponsor to support those costs.
A Thalassemia Success Story: Zoleykha
Zoleykha is a young girl living with beta-thalassemia. She is one of several students who receive regular medical care and had major life-saving surgery covered by Child Foundation donors in the hopes that going to school will soon be possible.
In 2021, she was in dire need of surgery. Her condition threatened her internal organs, and she needed to have her spleen removed. Still, the city where she lives, Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan, didn’t have sufficient medical expertise or facilities to provide the care she needed.
With the help of donors, Child Foundation funded Zoleykha’s travel to Kabul and urgent surgery. Thankfully, the surgery went great! She has since recovered and says she’s “feeling well now!”
World Thalassemia Day
In honor of World Thalassemia Day, on May 8th, Child Foundation is fundraising to help provide essential treatment to children in Afghanistan suffering from thalassemia.
Your tax-deductible donation can help other children like Zoleykha get treatment and go back to being a child and attending school. And with Mother’s Day and Father’s Day coming up, you’ll also be helping relieve the constant worry that parents of children with thalassemia face. Every parent and child in the world deserves health, happiness, and peace of mind.
There’s another way you can help!
Since August 2021, malnutrition and hunger among children have worsened. Millions of Afghan families cannot provide food, posing a new medical crisis. You can help by donating to the Bring Bread to Afghanistan Campaign, which delivers barbaric bread to (sponsored and unsponsored) families in Mazar-e Sharif.
