In the Wars

For readers of War Doctor and Educated, a doctor's story of grit and resilience, from the war torn streets of Kabul to saving lives around the world.

Born in war-torn Afghanistan, Waheed Arian's earliest memories are of bombs. Fleeing the conflict with his family, he spent much of his childhood in refugee camps in Pakistan, living sometimes ten to a room without basic sanitation or access to education. After he contracted tuberculosis, his first-hand experience of the power of medicine inspired Waheed to dedicate his life to healing others.

But how does a boy with nothing hope to become a doctor? Waheed largely taught himself, from textbooks bought from street-sellers, and learned English from the BBC World Service. Smuggled to the UK at fifteen with just $100 in his pocket, he was advised to set his sights on becoming a taxi driver.

But he had bigger ambitions. He studied all hours and was accepted to read medicine at Cambridge University, and went on to become a doctor in the NHS.

In 2015 he founded Arian Teleheal, a pioneering global charity that connects doctors in war zones and low-resource countries with their counterparts in the US, UK, Europe and Australia. Together, learning from each other, they save and change lives — the lives of millions of people just like Waheed.