In 2025 alone, more than 2.9 million people were forced to return to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan, putting additional pressure on communities and services already stretched to their limits. Thanks to European Union funding, INTERSOS is expanding access to health, nutrition, and protection services in the primary returnee settlement areas across western, southwestern, and southern Afghanistan.
After spending 23 years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 57-year-old Afghan Abdullah never imagined he would have to start all over again in Afghanistan.
For Abdullah, the return was not a choice. Arrested and deported by Iranian authorities, he was forced to leave behind his wife and four children, all of whom live with disabilities caused by a genetic condition. His family managed to join him weeks later, but the challenges only grew. “I was forced to leave my wife and four disabled children behind. I had no other option”, Abdullah recalls. “My eldest son is 22 years old and cannot walk or stand on his own. I wish all my children could receive treatment, but it is simply beyond my means.”
Like thousands of other returnees, Abdullah arrived in Afghanistan with few resources and little support network. While humanitarian assistance at border crossings provides immediate relief, the real challenge begins after families reach their areas of settlement, where they must find shelter, income, healthcare, and a way to restart their lives. Recognizing this critical gap, INTERSOS activated and strengthened health facilities in districts hosting large numbers of returnees. Through these facilities, returnee families can access primary healthcare, essential medicines, nutrition services, and protection support close to where they live.
For Abdullah, this support became a lifeline. INTERSOS provided his family with one-time cash assistance, free medical consultations, and medication through a nearby health facility. “Since we returned, INTERSOS has helped us with treatment and medicines. Whenever someone in the family becomes sick, we know there is a clinic we can go to,” he says. “At least we are no longer worried about how to manage a health emergency.”
Since August 2021, Afghanistan has faced a deepening humanitarian crisis driven by economic hardship, limited access to essential services, and recurring displacement. In 2025 alone, more than 2.9 million people returned to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan, placing additional pressure on already overstretched communities and services. With funding from the European Union, INTERSOS has expanded access to health, nutrition, and protection services in key returnee settlement areas across western, southwestern, and southern Afghanistan.
Today, Abdullah earns a modest income driving a rented rickshaw, surrendering a significant portion of his daily earnings to the vehicle’s owner. His family of six lives in a small, fragile mud house in Nimroz Province, paying 2,000 Afghanis in monthly rent. The province is known for its powerful winds, and each storm brings a new fear. “When the wind blows hard, we worry the house will collapse on us while we sleep”, Abdullah says. After losing the life they had built over two decades in Iran, the family now faces the uncertainty of surviving in a home that offers little protection from the elements. Yet amid these challenges, the nearby INTERSOS-supported health facility provides a sense of security. Knowing that healthcare and medicines are available free of charge has lifted one burden from a family already struggling with many others.
The project demonstrates how sustained healthcare services in returnees’ settlement areas can help families move beyond immediate survival and begin rebuilding their lives. By ensuring continued access to health, nutrition, and protection services where returnees settle, INTERSOS is helping vulnerable families face the future with greater dignity and resilience.
Abdullah still faces many challenges, but he no longer faces them alone. Knowing that healthcare is available close to home gives him peace of mind and hope for his children’s future. “We need these services to continue,” he says. “For families like mine, this clinic means everything. We are no longer constantly worried about what will happen if someone in the family gets sick.“