The COVID-19 Pandemic in Afghanistan and Iran Impacts and Consequences

The Covid-19 pandemic in 2019 to 2022 was a global challenge overall, but in addition to the health problems; it also posed major general obstacles to the development in countries of the Global South. The impact on the general health of large parts of the population was incomparably greater than in the countries of the Global North, the economic consequences were much more severe, and the long-term consequences of the pandemic could not yet be precisely foreseen or predicted. This holds especially true for countries whose health care systems were already struggling before the Covid-19 pandemic or whose economic systems were not particularly resilient even without the consequences of Covid-19. Therefore, this publication addresses the particular challenges posed by the pandemic in Afghanistan and Iran. There is a long tradition of scientific cooperation in the field of geography between Germany and Iran. This also holds true for Afghanistan and its ties to German geography. Thus, it was a logical consequence that for this volume on the Covid-19 pandemic a special focus was put on the economic and socio-political consequences of the pandemic in Afghanistan and Iran, two Middle Eastern countries which were effected heavily by the pandemic due to their fragile health systems and weak economic structures.