- KABUL — The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that in
2025 a whopping 3.5 million children in Afghanistan are at risk of
malnutrition. The agency expressed concern over the huge number of children
expected to be affected. Additionally, 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding
mothers are suffering from malnutrition and urgently need treatment and
nutrition support.
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- “Once a child or a woman becomes malnourished, we have to
help them, or they risk worsening to severe malnutrition, which is a
life-threatening situation. The mortality risk is very high for moderately
malnourished children – three times higher than for children who are not
malnourished,” says Mona Shaikh, Head of Nutrition for the WFP in Afghanistan.
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- The UN agency in its report said that nearly one-third of
Afghanistan’s population – up to 15 million people – need emergency food
assistance to survive. Eight out of ten families cannot afford a minimally
nutritious diet, and three out of four families have to borrow money to buy
basic groceries.
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- WFP says it urgently needs $555 million to maintain vital
food assistance across all its programmes for six months. Without additional
funding, critical programs for women, children and families – including
emergency food assistance, malnutrition treatment, school feeding and
vocational training for women – are at risk in Afghanistan.
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- Currently, WFP can only provide emergency food assistance
to just over 6 million people per month out of the nearly 15 million people in
need across the country.
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- WFP stated that in 2024, it reached almost 10 million
women and children across Afghanistan, across all its activities, including
treatment of malnutrition of 1 million mothers and 1.4 million children, out of
which 829,000 were girls. But more needs to be done as two-thirds of
female-headed families in the country cannot afford essential nutrition, 20 per
cent more than male-headed households.
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