KABUL (Pajhwok): The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says Afghanistan’s nutrition crisis is worsening.
In a statement on Monday, OCHA said that 3.7 million children in Afghanistan are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2026.
The UN agency stressed that urgent funding is needed to save lives and prevent irreversible harm.
OCHA noted that the nutrition situation in Afghanistan is rapidly deteriorating in 2026, with wasting levels worsening across 26 of 34 provinces compared to 2025. It added that this deterioration is occurring before the peak wasting season (July–September), signalling an early and deepening crisis.
Dr Sharafat Zaman, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, told Pajhwok on 21 March this year that by the end of 2025, around three million pregnant and breastfeeding women and children in Afghanistan were suffering from malnutrition.
He said that of these, 1.3 million were suffering from moderate malnutrition, 700,000 from severe malnutrition, while nearly one million pregnant and breastfeeding women were affected by acute and moderate malnutrition.
According to him, before the re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, 800 health centres were operating in this sector, but the number has now increased to 3,200.
hz/sa
