These communities face a significant risk of contracting certain diseases, such as tuberculosis (TB), hepatitis C, HIV, and illnesses linked to poor living conditions, yet are unable to access services due to stigma and exclusion.

In 2022, MSF continued to provide comprehensive healthcare to these communities, especially for the growing number of Afghans who have arrived in the country. Officially, Iran hosts 800,000, but it is estimated that an additional 2.7 million Afghans are living there, mostly undocumented,* with around one million having fled across the border since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.

In South Tehran, we ran a range of medical services through a health facility located in the Darvazeh Ghar neighbourhood, as well as mobile clinics. Our teams offered general healthcare, nursing care, mental health support, screening and testing for COVID-19, and treatment and referral for hepatitis C and B, HIV, syphilis and TB. We also provided midwifery and ante- and postnatal care.

In Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city, located near the border with Afghanistan, we continued to offer medical consultations and screening for infectious diseases. We also provided counselling, social support, health education and referrals to specialist health facilities through our clinic in Golshahr district, where most of the Afghans in the city have settled.  

We provided treatment for hepatitis C to drug users in rehabilitation centres, and strengthened our mental health services by sending a psychologist to conduct consultations in Torbat-e Jam’s “guest city”, a government-run refugee settlement in Razavi Khorasan province.

In December, we launched new activities, including general healthcare and rehabilitation of facilities that we work in, through three healthcare centres in Kerman city, aimed at filling gaps in services for the estimated 400,000 newly arrived and unregistered Afghan refugees.

*UNHCR: https://www.unhcr.org/ir/refugees-in-iran/