August 2, 2007

Red Cross Steps Up Aid in Kandahar

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In case you haven’t checked it out yet, our current issue contains a feature about the dire lack of medical facilities and staff in Afghanistan. The story chronicles the experiences of a doctor working in a military base hospital. The author also visits Red Cross-assisted Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar City and comments on the complications its staff encounters in attempting to provide care to Afghan soldiers and civilians.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, to which copies of the issue were delivered, released in a statement this week news that it has reached an agreement with the Afghan government “under which the ICRC will significantly increase its support for Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar, one of the most important medical facilities in the conflict-ridden southern part of the country.” The ICRC emailed Mother Jones to let us know of its pledge to “improve the overall quality of health care and the performance of hospital staff” at Mirwais for at least the next two years.

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE ON MOTHER JONES' FINANCES

We need to start being more upfront about how hard it is keeping a newsroom like Mother Jones afloat these days.

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Because over the challenging last year, and thanks to feedback from readers, we've started to see a better way to go about asking you to support our work: Level-headedly communicating the urgency of hitting our fundraising goals, being transparent about our finances, challenges, and opportunities, and explaining how being funded primarily by donations big and small, from ordinary (and extraordinary!) people like you, is the thing that lets us do the type of journalism you look to Mother Jones for—that is so very much needed right now.

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