Istanbul (ANTARA) - Around 3.7 million children in Afghanistan are\nexperiencing wasting or acute malnutrition, including approximately one\nmillion children suffering from severe acute malnutrition that threatens\ntheir lives, according to UNICEF on Tuesday (25\/8).<\/p>\n
UNICEF (United Nations Children\u2019s Fund) is a United Nations (UN)\nagency focused on providing humanitarian assistance and long-term\nwelfare for children and mothers worldwide.<\/p>\n
UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan Tajudeen Oyewale said nearly 40\npercent of children treated in hospitals for malnutrition with medical\ncomplications are infants under six months of age.<\/p>\n
He said children under two years old account for 83 percent of severe\nacute malnutrition cases. According to Oyewale, more than 500,000\nchildren have been treated since the beginning of the year for moderate\nhigh-risk and severe malnutrition.<\/p>\n
The number of severe acute malnutrition cases with medical\ncomplications increased by a third, from 6,000 cases in July 2025 to\n8,000 cases in July 2026, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn several regions of southern Afghanistan, some hospitals are now\nhandling three or four children suffering from severe malnutrition for\nevery available bed,\u201d said Oyewale.<\/p>\n
UNICEF said half of the children in Afghanistan live in conditions of\nsevere child food poverty, meaning they consume food from at most two\nfood groups each day.<\/p>\n
According to UNICEF, children living in households with severe food\ninsecurity can have up to six times higher risk of experiencing acute\nmalnutrition during peak malnutrition periods.<\/p>\n
Oyewale said years of drought, damaging heavy rains, and flash floods\nare further worsening the situation, compounded by regional instability\naffecting cross-border trade and people\u2019s livelihoods.<\/p>\n
As many as six million people, more than half of them children, have\nreturned to Afghanistan since 2023. This has further increased pressure\non jobs, household resources, and health and nutrition services, he\nsaid.<\/p>\n
UNICEF said more than 100 facilities treating children with acute\nmalnutrition have been closed this year compared with 2025 due to\nresource constraints.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of other service centres providing nutrition support for\nchildren as well as malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding mothers have\nalso lost funding, UNICEF added.<\/p>\n
The Nutrition Sector Response in Afghanistan faces a funding gap of\n57 percent. Meanwhile, UNICEF\u2019s nutrition programme, which requires\naround 180 million US dollars this year, has only secured 22 percent of\nits funding, according to the agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust when needs are increasing, the services available for children\nare decreasing due to funding cuts,\u201d said Oyewale.<\/p>\n
Source: Anadolu<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/unicef-3-7-million-afghan-children-suffer-from-acute-malnutrition-1787716378", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }