Afghanistan faces humanitarian crisis

Concern is rising over the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where an estimated 22.8 million people — that's more than half of the country's population — are facing life-threatening food insecurity. For years Afghanistan has been in dire humanitarian need, with many millions of people utterly reliant on foreign aid. But with the takeover by the Taliban earlier this year, that international funding stream has switched off. We’ll speak to our correspondent who has spent a day at one hospital where resources are being stretched to their limit.

And many exhausted healthcare workers around the world admit they feel demoralised as new Covid surges spread again in their countries. Some have also talked about compassion fatigue with un-vaccinated patients who are in majority in many ICU wards. We speak to two doctors in the US and in South Africa about their frustrations and experiences of treating patients who have refused a jab.

Also, we'll talk about the The Parker solar probe and what Nasa has described as a historic moment – the first time a spacecraft has flown through the outer atmosphere of the Sun.

(Photo: People carrying packages distributed by a Turkish humanitarian aid group, leave a distribution centre in Kabul, Afghanistan, December 15, 2021. Credit: REUTERS/Ali Khara)