Context:

Acute hunger and malnutrition in Afghanistan have surged amid a collapse in international aid, with about 19 million people facing life-threatening hunger and 5.3 million women and children needing treatment for acute malnutrition in the coming year. The crisis is driven by border closures, mass refugee returns, drought, disasters, and soaring food prices, compounded by funding cuts since 2021 that have slashed aid programs and left hospitals unable to treat all who are malnourished. The Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health reports full malnutrition wards and capacity limits that force triage, underscoring a widening gap between needs and resources. The outlook remains dire as donor funding remains constrained, threatening to deepen preventable child deaths unless aid flows rebound.

Dive Deeper:

• In Kabul’s Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, a 3-year-old girl battles severe malnutrition while her family struggles with irregular work income; the mother fears losing another child to hunger.

• The hospital’s malnutrition ward is at full capacity with 20 beds, often crowded by two children sharing a cot, highlighting severe strain on resources.

• John Aylieff of the World Food Programme warns that 19 million people could experience acute hunger in the coming months, with 5.3 million women and children needing treatment next year—an increase of about 1.3 million since 2022.

• Afghanistan’s nutrition crisis follows years of overlapping shocks: border closures with Pakistan, large-scale refugee returns from Iran and Pakistan, droughts, and broader global economic pressures.

• Funding declines since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover, including halted U.S. aid to WFP programs, have dramatically lowered humanitarian capacity, with the UN’s food agency operating on just 12% of its 2022 funding level.

• Health workers describe filtering out most acute cases due to insufficient food supplies, with calls for more donor support to expand capacity beyond the current 20 beds and save more lives.

• Families like Zarmina’s, whose two-year-old Fatma weighs about half of what is healthy and relies on a nasal feeding tube, illustrate the ongoing toll on households unable to afford or access adequate nutrition.