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Emergency kits for skin grafts and basic bone surgery are part of 24.5 tonnes of medical aid being sent by the World Health Organisation from its logistics hub in Dubai on Tuesday to assist victims of the earthquake in Afghanistan.

The $330,000 worth of aid was loaded on to lorries at WHO warehouses in Dubai's International Humanitarian City (IHC) on Monday to be flown to Kabul, from where it will be distributed to assist people in the eastern provinces of Khost and Paktika where a 6.1-magnitude earthquake last Wednesday killed more than 1,000, injured at least 1,400 and left thousands homeless.

It includes non-communicable disease (NCD) kits and testing equipment for cholera, the potentially fatal gastrointestinal infection that officials fear could spread rapidly amid a lack of safe water supplies and proper sanitation.

We are in co-ordination minute-by-minute with our team in Afghanistan, who are the ones who requested the items. Once the items have arrived the charter will be offloaded immediately and lorries will be ready to take the different supplies to clinics and hospitals in Afghanistan, Nivien Attalla, operational manager of the WHO Logistics Hub in Dubai, told The National as the aid was being loaded.

This is the WHO's first shipment from Dubai for the earthquake victims, but only a small part of the global relief efforts carried out by the UN agency and the IHC.

Nivien Attalla, operational manager at the WHO Logistics Hub in Dubai's International Humanitarian City. Suhail Akram / The National

Last year we shipped to 129 countries, which means we're a global responder, Ms Attalla said. Most of the shipments go to the EMRO region that is, Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, Pakistan and Somalia, which are among the top countries we're responding to.

Tuesday's shipment of aid is likely to be followed by more, IHC chief executive Giuseppe Saba said.

Once a full assessment of the situation is done, everybody knows therell be a second wave of humanitarian aid that will be moved, he said.

Afghanistan is currently the IHC's number one priority, Mr Saba said.

As of today, Afghanistan is the first country thats being served by the IHC community, while the second one is Yemen and then on the number three we have the critical situation in Europe with the Ukraine crisis, he said

In a year, the IHC sends out about 1,000 to 1,300 shipments.

Giuseppe Saba, chief executive of Dubai's International Humanitarian City, at the World Health Organisation warehouse Suhail Akram / The National

As of today were almost at 400 shipments through IHC [this year], Mr Saba said.

IHC is the largest humanitarian hub in the world with 80 different organisations.

Besides WHO, others include the World Food Programme, the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) and Unicef (United Nations Children's Fund), Mr Saba said.

Last week, the UAE sent food, aid and medical supplies to Afghanistan after President Sheikh Mohamed ordered an air bridge to be established for the relief effort.

A medical team and field hospital were also sent to south-east Afghanistan, state news agency Wam reported.

Updated: June 28, 2022, 5:00 AM

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WHO readies shipment of emergency supplies from Dubai to Afghanistan - The National