Kerala gynaecologist to quit job in India, join Doctors Without Borders mission in Afghanistan: Report

An obstetrician and gynaecologist from Kerala's Palakkad, Dr Roshni Changalath, is going to spend three months in Afghanistan as she is all set to join the team of Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the country.

The 37-year-old doctor is going to take a break from her corporate career in India as she is greatly inspired by Afghan women who have shown resilience despite "all overwhelming odds", as per a report in The Indian Express.

Dr Changalath has experience in working on sexual and reproductive health of vulnerable communities as a gynecologist. She has also participated actively in health camps in rural areas where she believes that sexual and reproductive health is a major issue.

Married to a medical professional, Dr Changalath says that it is important for the couple to "work in the humanitarian sector and be able to contribute both nationally and globally."

Ahead of her upcoming venture with the MSF, she has worked with the organisation's Cervical Cancer project in Malawi (Africa).

“During these missions, one has the privilege of partnering with the local community and it will be a deeply engaging experience for me to help in the effort to reduce death and sickness in mothers and their newborns,” the publication quoted her as saying.

Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is an international, independent organisation that provides free medical assistance to people affected in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases.

Owing to the medical needs especially among women and children emerging as a result of the decades long conflict in the country, the MSF runs multiple projects in Afghanistan. So far, the organisation has assisted 42,800 births and admitted 9,170 children to the inpatient feeding programme in the country.

"We do have quite a few female coordinators handling senior portfolios in the field as well. The organisation is considering conscious measures about increasing the ratio of females in the field,” said Simi Basheer, Director of HR and Facilities for MSF.

Along with the political conflict in the country, Afghanistan is also prone to natural disasters and the United Nations considers it one of countries most vulnerable to climate change.

It has battled a shortfall in aid after the Taliban took over as foreign forces withdrew from the country in 2021, since development aid that formed the backbone of government finances was slashed.

The shortfall has worsened in subsequent years as foreign governments grapple with competing global crises and growing condemnation of the Taliban's curbs on Afghan women.

The Taliban, which means "students" in the Pashto language, emerged in 1994 around the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. It was one of the factions fighting a civil war for control of the country following the withdrawal of the Soviet Union and subsequent collapse of the government.

It originally drew members from so-called "mujahideen" fighters who, with support from the United States, repelled Soviet forces in the 1980s.

In 2021, the Taliban seized power as the United States and its allies withdrew troops after a 20-year war launched in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

(With Reuters inputs)