Mother and child in a health clinic getting treatment for severe acute malnutrition, hunger, Afghanistan

Number of Afghan Children without enough to eat up 3.3 million in just four months

16 Dec 2021 Afghanistan

Number of Afghan Children without enough to eat up 3.3 million in just four months

The number of children in Afghanistan not getting enough to eat has increased by 3.3 million in the four months since the previous government of Afghanistan fell in August this year, according to an analysis by Save the Children.

As of the end of November, 98% of the population do not have enough to eat – an alarming jump from 81% compared with before the 15 August, according to data from UN World Food Programme (WFP).

WE STAND SIDE BY SIDE WITH CHILDREN IN THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST PLACES.

Afghanistan is facing its worst food crisis on record. This winter, 14 million children are expected to face potentially life-threatening levels of hunger, and rates of malnutrition are soaring.

With Afghanistan’s aid-dependent healthcare system on the brink of collapse, Save the Children warned that many severely malnourished children are unable to access the specialist treatment they need to survive. While the agency provides treatment for children suffering from acute malnutrition in Afghanistan, some critical referral pathways have been disrupted due to the crisis.

Hunoon* has six children, all of whom are under the age of 12. The family has not had any income for months and is unable to afford even basic foods. Hunoon’s* husband has twice tried to cross the border to Iran to find work but has been turned back each time. Without enough to eat, their youngest child, Sara*, has developed Severe Acute Malnutrition.

“If we could afford to, we’d eat twice or three times a day but we can’t. If we can afford it, I boil rice or I make soup, but sometimes we go five or six days without food,” said Hunoon*.

“If he (my husband) finds work then he brings something home for us to eat. If not then we sleep with an empty stomach, in the cold. This is how we live.”

“When Sara* was born I thought she was just hungry, but after we visited the health centre, I learned she wasn’t hungry, but weak … They said that she is malnourished and needed to be admitted to the hospital,” she said.

More than half of the population are resorting to drastic measures to feed their families – a five-fold increase from before the de-facto authorities took control on 15 August, according to the WFP. Last week, Save the Children spoke to one mother who was forced to give up one of her twins to feed the other.

Nora Hassanien, Acting Country Director of Save the Children in Afghanistan, said:

“We’re looking at one of the worst humanitarian crises we’ve ever seen. Desperate parents are coming to our clinics with children who are dangerously thin and malnourished. One of our doctors treated a woman who was nine months pregnant and feared she may be forced to give up her child because she couldn’t afford to feed them.”

“This heart-breaking and unjust scenario is being made worse because of sanctions and counter-terror policies, which can disrupt and delay the delivery of life-saving aid. Humanitarian agencies urgently need exceptions and carve-outs under those policies so that we can get help to children before the worst of winter sets in.”

Save the Children is providing families like Hunoon’s* with urgent food, breastfeeding and nutrition counselling, hygiene kits, blankets and warm clothes to help them get through the bitter winter.

The crisis in Afghanistan comes at a time when the world is facing its biggest hunger crisis of the 21st century, with an estimated 5.7 million children under five on the brink of starvation across the globe. A further 13 million children under 18 are facing extreme food shortages, the organisation said.

A deadly combination of COVID-19, conflicts, and the impacts of climate change have pushed hunger and malnutrition levels to a record global high. Without urgent action, the world could see tens of thousands of children starving to death, reversing decades of progress.

Notes to editors

Multimedia content is available: Sara*, 7 months, Sahar*, 8 months, and wider content collection from Gabriella Waaijman's visit.

For further enquiries please contact:

Related News

COP29 sign at Baku, Azerbaijan

Randa Ghazy/ Save the Children

22 Nov 2024

Azerbaijan

NEWS QUOTE FROM COP29 - “It will be bad for me to go home without any good news for children” – Maxwell, 15 from South Sudan

As COP29 is coming to an end, Save the Children and child campaigners in Baku remind world leaders that children’s rights must be at the centre of negotiations over the climate finance goal. 
READ MORE
Maysa*, 28, holding her son Khalid*, 3, in the camp where the family is displaced in Syria

Maysa*, 28, and her husband, Bahaa*, 24, have two young children; Khalid*, three, and Khansa*, one and a half. The family is now living in a displacement camp in Syria after fleeing the violence in Lebanon. In 2019, Bahaa fled Syria to Lebanon, to escape escalating violence in his village, in search of safety and work. In Lebanon, he married Maysa*, a Syrian refugee. The family worked in agriculture, living in tents set up in the fields they worked in. Life wasn’t so easy for them, often landowners withheld their wages which were barely enough to cover basic needs. Some non-governmental organisations provided aid, which helped them get by, but life remained tough. When the violence escalated in Lebanon, the family fled to Syria to save the lives of their children. Save the Children is assisting the family by providing Ready-to-Eat kits, hygiene kits, dignity kits for women, and Plumpy Nut butter for children under 5 years. They are one of the 117 families who arrived on October 29, 2024, in one of the displacement camps in Syria and are living through difficult conditions. They have limited access to water, food, and warm clothes for their children. Despite receiving some basic supplies, such as blankets, a tent, and food baskets, the extreme cold affected their son’s health, and he fell sick. Roni Ahmed / Save the Children

13 Nov 2024

Lebanon

ABOUT 300,000 CHILDREN HAVE FLED LEBANON TO SYRIA, WHERE AID NEEDS HAVE NEVER BEEN HIGHER

About 300,000 children have fled from Lebanon to Syria in the past seven weeks to seek safety from the worsening conflict, only to arrive in a country where humanitarian needs have never been higher. We have multimedia content to accompany this press release: www.contenthubsavethechildren.org/Package/2O4C2S11VJ1U
READ MORE
Mpox Case Isolation Center Uvira, DRC

Prudence*, 26, a mother of three from South Kivu province, fled armed conflict with her family to Uvira, DRC, in 2023. The hot climate led to widespread illness, with her family suffering from malaria and her children contracting cholera, which is endemic in the area. In May 2024, Mpox spread in her health zone, primarily affecting children. By September, her youngest daughter Christelle*, just 5 months old, fell ill with Mpox. Unsure of the illness, Prudence* initially treated her with medicine from a local pharmacy, which was ineffective. While seeking help from a traditional practitioner, Prudence* encountered community relays trained by Save the Children, who advised her to seek proper treatment at the Mpox isolation centre. Christelle’s* health began improving during her two-week stay at the centre, much to her mother’s relief. Prudence* is thankful for the support she received and dreams of a better future for her children, hoping for peace to return to her village so she can resume farming. Elias Mcito / Save the Children

13 Nov 2024

Burundi , Democratic Congo

Cases of new mpox strain more than double among children in DR Congo and Burundi since emergency declared

The new and aggressive strain of the potentially deadly mpox virus  is spreading rapidly among children in the DRC and Burundi, with cases more than doubling since a public health emergency was declared in mid-August.
READ MORE