Child malnutrition cases in Afghanistan have shot up by 47 percent in the first nine months of 2022, says Save the Children in a new report that was released on Monday. It tracked the number of “dangerously malnourished children admitted to Save the Children’s mobile health clinics” between January and September. At the start of 2022, the aid charity admitted 2,500 malnourished children a month for treatment at 57 clinics; in September, that number had shot up to 4,270 at 66 clinics, according to the report.
Save the Children, which has worked in Afghanistan since 1976, has found itself having to increase its efforts since the Taliban regained control in August 2021. It reports that it has reached more than 3.3 million people, including 1.8 million children, since last September.
The situation is continuing to worsen. “Save the Children doctors say they are overwhelmed with malnourished children – especially young girls who are often deprioritised when it comes to breastfeeding and complementary feeding compared to boys – and cannot keep up with the demand for services,” the report explains.
“Every day we’re faced with the heart-wrenching decision – which children do we save?” explains Chris Nyamandi, the non-profit’s country director in Afghanistan. “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working to solve the economic crisis and reinstating humanitarian funding and long-term development assistance that was withdrawn when the Taliban retook control – but they have been too slow to find solutions and now children are dying as a result.”
Like other humanitarian organizations, Save the Children has been warning for the past year that the situation within Afghanistan was deteriorating and that children were paying the highest price. Its new report estimates that “the needs are so high that 50 percent of Afghanistan’s population is still facing extreme hunger, with six million children and adults – nearly one eighth of the population – one step away from famine,” even with “vast amounts of life-saving food” being provided by humanitarian organizations.
In addition, Save the Children says the other major driver of the humanitarian crisis is the collapse of the economy, which “has caused unemployment, poverty and food prices to skyrocket, with many families now only surviving on bread and water for weeks at a time.”
In early September, Zan Times published a story regarding the worsening malnutrition crisis in Afghanistan. Children aren’t the only people going hungry. In the Zan Times article, Dr. Shamsia Hakimi, a gynecologist, and obstetrician working in a public hospital in Herat, said she’d noticed that the number of malnourished mothers have increased. She says that more than 60 percent of pregnant women visiting the hospital are severely malnourished and require hospitalization and special care.
