Child malnutrition cases up by 47pc in Afghanistan

KABUL (Pajhwok): The number of dangerously malnourished children admitted to its mobile health clinics in Afghanistan has risen by 47 percent since January this year, says a charity.

Some babies died before managing to receive any treatment, Save the Children said in a statement of Monday.

In January, 57 mobile health teams of the NGO admitted about 2,500 malnourished children for treatment. By September, the number had jumped to around 4,270 children admitted by 66 teams.

As a result of a drought-induced fall in crop harvests, many rural families were forced to sell land and livestock to buy food to feed their children, the UK-based charity said.

Despite the provision of huge amounts of life-saving food by aid agencies, the NGO noted, 50 percent of Afghanistan’s population was still facing extreme hunger.

It said six million children and adults, nearly one eighth of the country’s population, were one step away from famine.

Save the Children’s Country Director Chris Nyamandi said: “Humanitarian organisations … are stretched to the absolute limit trying to stop children dying from hunger every day in Afghanistan. But the truth is, with so many children facing life-threatening levels of hunger, we simply do not have the resources to save them all.”

He added: “Every day we’re faced with the heart-wrenching decision — which children do we save? It’s outrageous and horrifying to think that international leaders have the power to save these children’s lives – by working to solve the economic crisis and reinstating humanitarian funding and long-term development assistance that was withdrawn when the Taliban retook control – but they have been too slow to find solutions and now children are dying as a result.

“Humanitarian organisations have been sounding the alarm on Afghanistan for more than a year now. It’s time the world stopped ignoring this catastrophic crisis and took action before many more children lose their lives.”

Since the Taliban came to power in August 2021, Save the Children has scaled up its response to support the increasing number of children in need.

It has been delivering health, nutrition, education, child protection, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene and food security and livelihoods support.

The organisation claimed it had reached more than 3.3 million people, including 1.8 million children since September 2021.

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