WHO asks Taliban to lift female aid worker restrictions following earthquakes

Afghan women in burqas walk towards a safer place after their house was damaged following a deadly magnitude 6 earthquake that struck Afghanistan on Sunday, at Lulam village, in Nurgal district, Kunar province, Afghanistan, September 3. REUTERS/Sayed Hassib

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -The World Health Organization has asked Taliban authorities to lift restrictions on Afghan female aid workers, allowing them to travel without male guardians and help women struggling to access care after a powerful earthquake killed 2,200 people in eastern Afghanistan.

"A very big issue now is the increasing paucity of female staff in these places," Dr Mukta Sharma, the deputy representative of WHO's Afghanistan office, told Reuters.