How to develop trans people-inclusive medical AI: the objective of a study by UPF, the BSC, the URV and PRISMA

This ground breaking study in Spain is the result of a collaboration between Pompeu Fabra University, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Rovira i Virgili University and the PRISMA association, which protects the rights of LGBTQIA+ people

Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona

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In the field of health, the development of artificial intelligence (AI) may mean major breakthroughs in personalizing diagnoses and treatments, but there is a need to promote bias-free AI with a more diverse and inclusive vision so that everyone can benefit from it. With this study, Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), the Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) and Rovira i Virgili University (URV) have moved towards the development of medical AI applications that overcome binary logics and include the needs of trans people. The study was carried out in collaboration with the PRISMA association, which protects the rights of LGBTQIA+ people in the field of science and innovation.

Inclusive medical AI could benefit trans people in several ways, such as the greater personalization of masculinizing or feminizing hormonal treatments according to the physiological characteristics of each individual. Another example is the design of voice apps that take the needs of trans people into account. Many of them use them to help with their process of voice change and it causes them emotional discomfort when the app recognizes them as being of a gender with which they do not identify.

This pioneering study in Spain was recently published in an article in the scientific Journal of Medical Internet Research. The main researcher of the study is Nataly Buslon Valdez, of the Social and Responsible Computing research  group of the UPF Department of Engineering. The study co-authors are Davide Cirillo, head of the Machine Learning for Biomedical Research unit at the BSC and co-leader of the research line on sex and gender bias in AI of the BSC’s Bioinfo4Women initiative; Oriol Rios (URV Department of Pedagogy and member of PRISMA); and Simón Perera del Rosario (UPF Department of Medicine and Life Sciences and PRISMA member).

Buslon had spent several years researching health and gender examining the medical and technological biases that harm women. “We saw the need to overcome the binary vision and see the problems faced by communities such as trans people in order to achieve a more inclusive, diverse and equitable approach”, she explains. On the basis of this idea, which arose from the Bioinfo4Women initiative of the BSC-CNS, she contacted the PRISMA association, which for years has denounced the gaps suffered by the LGBTQIA+ collective in relation to science and innovation for years. PRISMA helped the research team to get in contact with trans people. In addition, it enjoyed the support of representatives of TRÀNSIT, the Health Care and Promotion Service for Trans and Non-Binary People of the Catalan Health Institute (ICS).

The research is grounded in communicative methodology, which requires the active participation of the study population and of different social groups involved in the field of research. A representative cohort of 18 trans people participated in three telematic focus groups to express their views on the topic and were involved in designing the research. PRISMA representatives collaborated in overseeing the focus groups to ensure that the research was ethical and respectful towards trans people. The study sought to analyse two issues, principally: on the one hand the challenges that must be overcome to adapt the design of AI applications in health to the needs of trans people and, on the other, the potential solutions. “The key is to promote more diverse and inclusive AI both in the field of health and globally”, Buslon concludes.

The focus groups have enabled finding “that in many instances, AI replicates the biases of its creators and can increase the invisibility of trans people”, explains Simón Perera del Rosario (UPF). He exemplifies this with the existing apps to help with the voice-changing process of trans people. “These digital systems are designed in a binary way. If someone uses an app that helps them change their voice and identifies them as a man, when they are a trans woman, this will cause them discomfort”. For Buslon (UPF), the constant discrimination of this group, also by technology, “can affect their mental health, self-esteem and quality of life”.

 

How can trans people benefit from the medical potential of AI?

“The study recommends developing inclusive AI applications that enable personalized treatments tailored to the specific needs of each trans person”, Davide Cirillo (BSC) explains. This would allow, for example, adjusting the doses of masculinizing or feminizing hormone therapies to the physiological characteristics of each individual. In addition, AI tools could help detect and correct incompatibilities between hormone therapy and other drugs. 

In the focus groups, the trans people also expressed the need to make appropriate use of their personal data for health purposes. For example, only for medical purposes, health professionals should know if they are dealing with a trans or a cis woman, because, for the treatment of certain diseases, doses could differ in each case. In fact, in the focus groups, the trans people warned that binary models of data management and new technological developments in the medical field may lead to errors in diagnoses and treatments.

 

Strengthening trans people’s trust in the health system

In addition, the study stresses the need to reverse trans people’s distrust towards health institutions, due to their historical discrimination in this field. It should be remembered that the WHO did not remove transsexuality from the International Classification of Diseases until June 2019. To do so, “it is advisable to improve health professionals’ training and awareness of the needs of the trans community”, Oriol Rios (URV) adds. In addition, the study aims to carry out more scientific studies on the subject, which are very scarce to date, focusing on data management and AI with a diverse and inclusive vision. Finally, it recommends promoting solidarity networks and spaces for the exchange of knowledge between trans people and health professionals.

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Journal

Journal of Medical Internet Research

DOI

10.2196/72325 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Exploring Gender Bias in AI for Personalized Medicine: Focus Group Study With Trans Community Members

 

Millisecond windows of time may be key to how we hear, study finds

University of Rochester Medical Center

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You have 20 minutes of spare time, but the new episode of your favorite podcast is a few minutes longer. No problem; you can increase the listening speed and fit in those extra minutes.

Phew.

What happens when you listen to speech at a different speed? Neuroscientists thought that your brain may turn up its processing speed as well. But it turns out that at least the auditory part of the brain keeps “listening” or clocking in at a fixed time. That is the key finding of new research out today in Nature Neuroscience. The research was led by Sam Norman-Haignere, PhD, assistant professor of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, Biomedical Engineering, and Neuroscience at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, in collaboration with researchers at Columbia University, including Principal Investigator Nima Mesgarani, PhD, of the Zuckerman Institute, and Menoua Keshishian, who completed his PhD in Electrical Engineering in his lab.

“This was surprising. It turns out that when you slow down a word, the auditory cortex doesn't change the time window it is processing. It's like the auditory cortex is integrating across this fixed time scale,” said Norman-Haignere, the study's first author, who started the study as a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia. “One of the key goals of this kind of research is to build better computational models of how the brain processes information in speech, which will increase our set of scientific tools and ultimately help us understand what goes awry when someone has difficulty understanding speech and language processing.”

The Complexities of Understanding and Modeling Speech

The auditory cortex, which consists of several layers and regions, is the brain area responsible for processing and interpreting sounds. Researchers know there are multiple regions in the brain that process speech—the primary auditory cortex, the secondary auditory cortex, and language areas beyond the auditory cortex. A fundamental understanding of how each region works and the hierarchy between and within these different regions is not well understood.

Understanding the complexities of the brain has been assisted by the development of computational models. These computer models use mathematical formulas or algorithms to understand sound and predict neural responses and human behavior.

The authors of this study used computer models to test whether their research method would distinguish between their two hypotheses: does the auditory cortex integrate information across speech structures—for example, words—or time? It turned out that some of the computer models learned to integrate across speech structures, unlike the auditory cortex. This finding was helpful in part because it helped to validate the methods the authors were using to study structure and time.

Accessing the Human Brain

Neuroscientists are typically limited in the types of neural data they can record from the human brain.  Electroencephalograms or EEGs provide researchers with the brain’s electrical activity read from the scalp, which is far away from the actual cells that produce this activity. Functional MRIs measure blood flow in the brain, which is an indirect measure of brain activity. Both tools have transformed our understanding of human brain function and disease; however, neither method is able to record spatially and temporally precise neural activity.

The researchers worked with epilepsy patients at NYU Langone Medical Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and University of Rochester Medical Center to measure precise neural activity from inside the human brain. They worked with patients who were admitted to the hospital for epilepsy monitoring. As part of their monitoring, electrodes were temporarily implanted inside their brains so medical doctors could better determine the area of the brain where their seizures came from. These electrodes measure electrical responses right next to where neurons are active, providing much higher precision than standard methods such as EEG and fMRI.

The recruited participants were tasked with listening to a passage from an audiobook at normal speed, and then they were played the same passage at a slower speed. The researchers thought they might see a change in the neural time window that varied with the speed of speech. However, the differences they observed were none to minimal, indicating the fundamental unit of processing is physical time—for example, 100 milliseconds—and not speech structures such as words.

"This finding challenges the intuitive idea that our brain's processing should be yoked to the speech structures we hear, like syllables or words,” said Mesgarani, a senior author of the study and an associate professor of Electrical Engineering at Columbia. “Instead, we've shown that the auditory cortex operates on a fixed, internal timescale, independent of the sound's structure. This provides a consistently timed stream of information that higher-order brain regions must then interpret to derive linguistic meaning.”

“The better we understand speech processing, the better we think we'll be able to understand what is causing deficits in speech processing,” said Norman-Haignere. “One thing that is exciting about this line of work is that there are many people who have been studying hearing, and many people who have been studying language, but your brain needs to somehow transform the sounds that reach your ear into words, phrases, and sentences. So, figuring out how the brain goes from something more sound-based to something more language-based, and how to model this transformation, is an exciting space that we're working in.”

Other researchers include Guy McKhann, and Catherine Schevon of Columbia University, and Orrin Devinsku, Werner Doyle, and Adeen Flinker, NYU Langone Medical Center. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and a Marie-Josee and Henry R. Kravis grant.

 

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DOI

10.1038/s41593-025-02060-8 

Article Publication Date

18-Sep-2025

 

The economic cost of climate change for Europe’s Forests — Need for strategic adjustments

Technical University of Munich (TUM)

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Forests dominated by conifers are often considered more profitable than structured diverse mixed forests. However, their lower susceptibility to disruption could compensate for this in the context of climate change.

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Credit: Rupert Seidl / TUM

• 
  
• TUM researchers calculated how the value of Europe’s forests could change under different climate scenarios.
• While Northern Europe may benefit from faster tree growth, Central and Southern Europe face significant losses.
• Additional disturbances may emerge, so the researchers recommend adapting forest management.

Wildfires, storms, and bark beetle are putting increasing pressure on Europe’s forests. Beyond their ecological toll, these events also carry major economic consequences. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now quantified the potential financial losses climate change could cause for European forestry. Their findings reveal significant regional differences: while Northern Europe may even benefit, Central and Southern Europe will need to adapt quickly.

Forest disturbances regularly cause damages worth millions. The wood price then decreases rapidly due to large amounts of damaged timber or the wood is so badly damaged that it cannot be sold at all. Timber may suddenly flood the market in large volumes or be so badly damaged it can no longer be sold. For the first time, a team led by Rupert Seidl, Professor of Ecosystem Dynamics and Forest Management, Thomas Knoke, Professor of Forest Management, and PhD-Student Johannes Sonnweber Mohr has calculated how climate change could affect the economic value of Europe’s forests.

The study, recently published in Nature Climate Change, examines the expected climate scenarios for the end of the century. Using computer models, the team simulated how Europe’s forests might grow under different climate conditions and how wildfires, storms, and bark beetle could shape forest development and timber harvests.

Gains in Northern Europe, losses in Central and Southern Europe

The study shows that global warming will bring varied—and sometimes opposing—effects. “With ongoing climate change, large-scale disturbances will become more frequent, and costs for forest owners will rise,” says Rupert Seidl. “While damages across Europe amounted to around €115 billion during the reference period from 1981 to 2005, all our scenarios show an significant increase. Under 4.8 degrees of warming, costs could climb as high as €247 billion.”

At the same time, longer growing seasons, higher temperatures, and rising atmospheric CO₂ concentrations could accelerate tree growth in some regions, putting timber on the market more quickly. The result: not only higher costs from disturbances but also higher revenues at the European level overall.

However, these gains are unevenly distributed. In Southern Europe, damages exceed additional revenues under every scenario. In Central Europe—including Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic—the value of forests declines sharply even at moderate warming of 2.6 degrees, leaving possible increased production barely able to offset losses. In contrast, Scandinavian forests are less often hit by disturbances and benefit the most from changing conditions. There, productivity gains could even outweigh the costs.

“Forestry can no longer follow a one-size-fits-all approach”

“Modeling always focuses on selected aspects,” explains first author Johannes Sonnweber Mohr, a researcher at the Chair of Ecosystem Dynamics and Forest Management. “We concentrated on the three most common disturbance types today, but new ones may emerge. What we see overall is that uncertainties for the future are rising sharply. Forestry can no longer follow a one-size-fits-all approach—it’s becoming less and less predictable. Using these insights to adapt forest management to climate change could reduce economic losses while fostering more climate-resilient forests with high ecological value.”

According to the researchers, careful economic evaluation is key to effective adaptation. “By comparing simulations with and without disturbances, we can directly quantify their financial impact on forest owners,” says Thomas Knoke. “This also highlights the advantages of structurally diverse mixed forests. While they are often seen as less profitable than conifer-dominated forests, their lower susceptibility to disturbances could make them much more valuable in the future than they might appear today.”

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Journal

Nature Climate Change

DOI

10.1038/s41558-025-02408-9 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Publication Date

18-Sep-2025

 

Cattle vaccine immunity ‘boost’ tested by new research

Aberystwyth

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Dr Amanda Gibson, Aberystwyth University

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Credit: Aberystwyth University

Scientists at Aberystwyth University are leading research into how a widely used vaccine can boost overall immunity in livestock.

The four-year study will investigate the concept of ‘trained immunity’ – a form of immune memory triggered by a vaccine, which reprogrammes the immune system to respond more effectively to future unrelated infections.

The research team will study the impact of the BCG vaccine, which is hoped to be used to help control tuberculosis in cattle, and has been demonstrated to trigger trained immunity.

Using advanced lab techniques and cattle tissue samples, the team will study the molecular mechanisms that lead to trained immunity in vaccinated livestock.

The study could lead to healthier livestock, reduced reliance on antibiotics, and lower environmental impacts from farming.

Dr Amanda Gibson, Lecturer in Innate Immunology at the Sêr Cymru Centre of Excellence for Bovine Tuberculosis, is leading the research. She said:

“This is a fantastic opportunity to explore the potential of trained immunity in livestock and to contribute to the development of more sustainable and resilient farming systems. I’m excited to work with colleagues across disciplines and sectors to deliver research that can make a real-world impact on animal health and environmental sustainability.”

Professor Iain Barber, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Sciences at Aberystwyth University, said:

“Dr Gibson’s work addresses some of the most pressing challenges in animal health and sustainable agriculture. We are proud to support her as she leads this exciting and impactful programme, which reflects the world-class research taking place here in Aberystwyth.”

Dr Gibson will collaborate with partners including the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), the Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales, Arwain DGC (Defnydd Gwrthficrobaidd Cyfrifol/Responsible Antimicrobial Use), and the Roslin Institute.

Dr Camille Harrison, lead scientist for bovine tuberculosis at APHA, said:

“I look forward to working more closely with Dr Amanda Gibson and her team to develop collaborative projects that support TB eradication efforts and deepen our understanding of immunological pathways.”

The work is supported by a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowship, awarded to Dr Gibson in recognition of her leadership in the field of immunology and animal health.

UKRI Chief Executive, Professor Sir Ian Chapman, said:

“UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowships offer long-term support to outstanding researchers, helping them turn bold ideas into innovations that improve lives and livelihoods in the UK and beyond.

“These fellowships continue to drive excellence and accelerate the journey from discovery to public benefit. I wish them every success.”

Dr Gibson joined Aberystwyth University in 2020 from the Royal Veterinary College, London, where she established the innate immunology group. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Immunology from the University of Glasgow and a PhD in Molecular Immunology from the University of London. Her career spans industry (Philips Healthcare), the civil service (Health Protection Agency, now UKHSA), and academia.

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Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Animals

Small nuclear RNA base editing a safer alternative to CRISPR, UC San Diego researchers find

University of California - San Diego

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Genetic editing holds promise to treat incurable diseases, but the most popular method — CRISPR — sometimes does more harm than good. A new study from University of California San Diego and Yale University researchers highlights an innovative alternative approach that may be safer.

CRISPR — short for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats — is a method of genetic editing that uses RNA and bacterial proteins to edit DNA. It was adapted from a method used by bacteria as an immune defense against the DNA of viruses.

When the method is used by scientists to edit human DNA, however, there can be unintended consequences. These can include accidental edits that can cause life-threatening health conditions in the near term. What’s more, the long-term effects of CRISPR editing are unknown and may include an increased risk of cancer.

Another possible unwanted outcome: an immune response that kills edited cells, undoing any good done by CRISPR and potentially causing more severe health issues, according to Gene Yeo, PhD, corresponding author on the study. Yeo is a professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine and director of the Sanford Stem Cell Innovation Center and the Center for RNA Technologies and Therapeutics at the Sanford Stem Cell Institute.

On a quest for safer options, Yeo and team tested two types of editing systems that, like CRISPR, use RNA to make revisions to genetic code. Unlike CRISPR, however, the systems make more specific, temporary modifications.

“Human-based editing systems,” as opposed to bacteria-based editing systems, “have less potential for issues,” Yeo said.

Both editing systems used small nuclear RNAs — RNA molecules that don’t make proteins, located inside the nucleus of cells — to swap out certain “letters” in the genetic code. RNA letters are A, U, C and G (adenine, uracil, cystosine and guanine). They were able to change A so that it was read as G and U so that it was read as Ψ.

When compared to the best current RNA editing tools, the small nuclear RNA approach showed clear advantages:

• It worked better on complex RNAs, including those with many sections and those that don’t normally code for proteins.
• It proved safer, creating far fewer accidental edits in the genome.
• And in a model of cystic fibrosis, the method rescued faulty genes more effectively.

The idea for the study originated from a key technological insight from CRISPR.

“The addition of a nuclear localization sequence was instrumental to the early success of CRISPR-Cas9,” said Aaron Smargon, Ph.D., first author and an assistant project scientist in Yeo’s lab. “We wondered similarly whether spatial confinement of engineered RNA base editors to the nucleus — where all known RNA-guided base editing occurs in cells — would be beneficial.

Rewriting the genetic code in a minimally invasive manner could lead to safer, more precise treatments for a variety of diseases, including neurodegenerative, cardiovascular and immune. The demonstrated advantages of small nuclear RNA editing will pave the way for new applications that push the boundaries of medicine, Yeo and team predict.

“We are excited about continuing to advance the field of engineered RNA modifiers,” Yeo said.

The study was published in Nature Chemical Biology on Sept. 18, 2025.

Additional co-authors on the study include: Deepak Pant, Trent A. Gomberg, Sofia Glynne, Jonathan Nguyen and Jack T. Naritomi at UC San Diego; and Christian Fagre and Wendy V. Gilbert at Yale University.

The study was funded, in part, by the National Institutes of Health (grants #S10 OD026929, R01HG004659, U24 HG009889 and R01GM101316), the National Science Foundation (grant 2330451) and the Hartwell Foundation.

Yeo and Smargon have filed for a patent related to this work. Yeo is a cofounder and member of the board of directors, scientific advisory board member, equity holder and paid consultant for Eclipse BioInnovations. Yeo’s interests have been reviewed and approved by UC San Diego in accordance with its conflict-of-interest policies. Gilbert is a co-founder and scientific advisory board member for Cloverleaf Bio. Gilbert’s interests have been reviewed and approved by Yale University in accordance with its conflict-of-interest policies. The authors declare no other competing interests.

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Journal

Nature Chemical Biology

DOI

10.1038/s41589-025-02026-8 

Afghanistan: Taliban presiding over genocide of ethnic minority group – report

Ending Hazara persecution would hasten Afghanistan’s reintegration into global system.

THEY WOULD HAVE TO END GENDER APARTHEID

EURASIANET

Sep 12, 2025

A Hazara girl holds a placard during a protest against the September 2022 bombing in Kabul that took the lives of 54 young female students, largely from the Hazara minority community. 

(Photo: Paul Becker, CC BY 2.0, n9.cl/0enpm)

Ongoing and systematic persecution of Afghanistan’s Hazara community meets the standard of genocide, according to a report published September 1 by the New Lines Institute (NLI).

The report focuses on documenting violations of the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide committed against Hazaras in Afghanistan since August 2021, when the Taliban regime returned to power in Kabul amid the hasty withdrawal of US forces. Hazaras, who adhere to the Shia branch of Islam, may comprise up to 20 percent of Afghanistan’s estimated population of 44 million, although reliable, official demographic data is lacking.

In addition to Taliban elements, Hazaras have also been targeted for attacks by non-state actors, including the militant group Islamic State-Khorasan Province and Kuchis, or ethnic Pashtun nomads predominantly found in eastern and southern Afghan provinces, according to the report. The NLI analysis shows that Hazaras qualify as a distinct ethnic and religious group under Article II of the UN Convention and are thus covered by the treaty’s provisions. The report goes on to call on signatories to the pact to “employ all means reasonably available to them” to protect Hazaras from further persecution and to take action to bring perpetrators to justice.

“Preventing genocide against the Hazara would not only save lives but also help restore the foundations needed for Afghanistan to function as a state,” said Susanna Kelley, the NLI policy analyst who oversaw the production of the report. “Ending persecution would improve humanitarian access, reduce forced migration, and ease regional tensions by stabilizing the refugee situation in Iran and Pakistan. On a broader level, protecting minorities is a prerequisite for Afghanistan’s reintegration into the international system.”

The NLI report lists numerous atrocities against Hazaras going back almost a decade, including mass attacks on schools, markets, public transportation and other civic venues. Among the worst recent instances of violence was an attack carried out by ISIS-K on a mosque in northern Balkh Province in April 2022 that left 31 dead and 87 wounded.

The motive for Hazara persecution appears to be rooted in religion. Most of Afghanistan’s other main ethnic groups, including Pashtuns, Uzbeks and Tajiks, are adherents of the Sunni branch of Islam and are doctrinally hostile to Shia beliefs.

The NLI report stresses that discrimination against Hazaras in Afghanistan dates back at least to the 19th century. It notes that persecution of Hazaras persisted during the Afghan Republic era, the almost 20-year-long period that began in 2002 following the demise of the first Taliban regime and the establishment of representative government. The US-backed Afghan republican government endorsed the 1948 UN Convention in 2003, yet “despite the Afghan Republic delivering on palpable changes in terms of human rights, justice, and accountability, Hazaras, particularly Hazara women, have been targeted with impunity during the times of the Afghan Republic and since the Taliban takeover,” the report states.

To date global bodies, such as the International Criminal Court, have been slow to address the Hazara persecution issue, even though it long predates the return of the Taliban to power in 2021. The international focus has tended to fix on the Taliban regime’s draconian policies concerning women.

“The ICC and other relevant international bodies have been largely silent, and/or acted too late with respect to other long-standing and serious human rights violations in Afghanistan, including deliberate attacks against the Hazara,” the report states.

Kelley argues that dedicated international action to address Hazara persecution would help Afghanistan create a more solid foundation for economic reconstruction and integration into emerging regional trade networks, such as the US-backed Middle Corridor.

“For the United States and Europe, addressing the Hazara genocide is not only a moral obligation but a strategic necessity. The security of vulnerable populations is directly tied to regional and global stability,” she said.

To read the full report, click here.

Eurasianet has an operating agreement with the New Lines Institute, a Washington, DC,-based think tank that fosters “principled and transformative” policy solutions “based on a deep understanding of regional geopolitics and the value systems of those regions.”

HASARA MINORITY IN PAKISTAN, NORTHERN IRAN

 

Afghanistan’s August 2025 earthquake reveals the cost of international isolation, UN scientists warn

According to a new analysis by the United Nations University, the latest earthquake in Afghanistan was moderate, but the death toll was exceptionally high due to drastic aid cuts by the international community and the gender-based restrictions imposed by

United Nations University

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Richmond Hill, Canada, 18 September 2025 – On August 31 at midnight, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar Province near the Pakistan border. Despite being moderate in magnitude, the earthquake caused extensive destruction and claimed more than 3,500 lives, including many women and children. Now, the United Nations University (UNU) scientists attribute this significant death toll to Afghanistan's decades of conflict and instability, and the nation's increasing diplomatic isolation following the Taliban takeover in 2021. 

A new damage assessment of the August 31 earthquake by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) finds that over 13,000 buildings were damaged or collapsed within 50 kilometers of the earthquake’s center in eastern Afghanistan. Some villages experienced up to 90% of their buildings impacted. The publication identifies low-quality construction, poor disaster management, and the broader socio-political context as the key contributors to the earthquake’s impact. 

Persistent economic hardship and underdevelopment have forced millions of Afghans to live in houses that stand little chance against earthquakes. Most buildings in the impacted areas were made of mud bricks or rough stone with minimal engineering and collapsed as soon as the earthquake struck. With the country more isolated than ever and international funding for infrastructure and emergency relief declining, similar disasters are expected to happen again if no decisive action is taken. 

“The August 31 earthquake in Afghanistan showed how even moderate earthquakes can cause catastrophic losses when fragile infrastructure and weak preparedness leave communities exposed,” said Dr. Manoochehr Shirzaei, the Chief Scientist of the Global Environmental Intelligence Lab at UNU-INWEH. “Our analysis highlights the urgent need in Afghanistan for sustained investment in safer construction and disaster risk reduction. Without these measures, future earthquakes will bring the same devastation at the very least.” 

The earthquake’s impact fell especially hard on women and girls, who face strict gender-based restrictions. Many female survivors could not access timely medical care because they were barred from seeing male doctors without a chaperone. Restrictions on women’s mobility and bans on female aid workers also means that relief supplies and assistance often could not reach those most in need. What worsened the shortage of female healthcare workers was the ban on women’s medical education that further limited the nation's treatment capacity for the affected women and girls. 

“The recent earthquake in Afghanistan revealed the disproportional impacts of a natural disaster on the women and girls within a restricted society,” said Professor Kaveh Madani, the Director of UNU-INWEH. “Systematic exclusion of women from education, employment, and decision-making make societies weaker and more vulnerable to disasters.” 

Other key contributors identified by the analysis include the earthquake’s timing, its shallow depth, and heavy monsoon rainfall in the weeks before the event. Striking just before midnight, most residents were indoors and asleep, leaving them trapped when buildings began to collapse. With an origin only 8 km below the surface, the shaking was concentrated directly beneath the populated areas of Kunar Province, placing structures under severe stress. To make matters worse, weeks of monsoon rain had loosened slopes, and the earthquake triggered landslides that buried roads and hamlets under rubble.  

The publication concludes that the increasing international isolation of Afghanistan significantly limited the disaster relief aid and support by the international community, making the Afghan population deeply vulnerable. The authors call for improving the resilience of disaster relief frameworks to ensure that people living under sanctioned governments are not excluded from humanitarian aid and disaster recovery efforts. 

Key Findings:   

• About 13,241 buildings within 50 km of the affected area — were damaged or destroyed. 

• In some villages, 90% or more of buildings were destroyed, leaving residents without shelter. 

• Ground deformation reached up to 23 cm during the 31 August mainshock. 

• The aftershock on September 4 also caused about 17 cm of ground deformation. 

• Collapsed buildings were mainly rural mudbrick or adobe houses, along with some small masonry shops and community buildings. 

• Landslides triggered by rain-soaked slopes buried villages and blocked roads, cutting off aid and delaying rescue efforts. 

• Afghanistan’s isolation and drastic aid cuts left disaster response under-resourced and slowed international relief. 

• Poverty, unsafe housing on risky terrain, and lack of preparedness amplified losses and left survivors feeling abandoned. 

• Gender restrictions and a shortage of female health workers created life-threatening barriers to medical care and aid for women and girls. 

• The earthquake struck just before midnight, when most residents were indoors and asleep, leaving them trapped in collapsing structures. 

• At a depth of about 8 km, the earthquake was very shallow, producing intense surface shaking that greatly increased the damage. 

 

Read the publication: Shirzaei, M., Daqiq, M. T., Lucy, J., Werth, S., Sharma, R., Velasco, M. J., Matin, M., Madani, K. (2025). Damage Assessment of Afghanistan’s August 2025 Earthquake. United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, doi: 10.53328/INR25MSIR002 

 

Media Contacts:  

• Kyra Bowman, UNU Head of Communications, bowman@unu.edu   

• Shooka Bidarian, Media and Journalism Fellow, Sustainability and Climate, shooka.bidarian@unu.edu  

 

Available for Interview:  

• Dr. Manoochehr Shirazi -  Chief Scientist, Global Environmental Intelligence Lab, UNU-INWEH – manoochehr.shirzaei@unu.edu 

• Prof. Kaveh Madani - Director, UNU-INWEH - madani@unu.edu  

• Dr. Mir Matin – Manager, Geospatial, Climate and Infrastructure Analytics Program, UNU-INWEH – mir.matin@unu.edu  

 

About UNU-INWEH  

  

The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) is one of 13 institutions comprising the United Nations University (UNU), the academic arm of the United Nations. Established in 1996 through an agreement with the Government of Canada, UNU-INWEH, also known as the UN's Think Tank on Water is headquartered in the City of Richmond Hill, Ontario. UNU-INWEH specializes in addressing critical global security and development challenges at the intersection of water, environment, and health. Through research, capacity development, policy engagement, and knowledge dissemination, the institute bridges the gap between scientific evidence and the practical needs of policymakers and UN member states, with particular attention to low and middle-income countries. By collaborating with a diverse array of partners—including UN agencies, governments, academia, the private sector, and civil society—UNU-INWEH develops solutions that advance human security, resilience, and sustainability worldwide.  

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DOI

10.53328/INR25MSIR002 

Article Title

Damage Assessment of Afghanistan’s August 2025 Earthquake

Article Publication Date

18-Sep-2025