UN agencies warn of acute malnutrition among under-5 Afghan children
New Delhi: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Food Programme (WFP) have warned that over 3 million Afghan children, aged less than 5 years, will be at a higher risk of acute malnutrition by the year-end.
At present, 14 million Afghanis suffer from water and food shortages and a lack of basic health and nutritional facilities, after the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in August 2021.
According to a recent WFP survey, 95 percent of Afghan households cannot consume enough food. The elders skip meals and eat less to save food for the children.
“We are highly concerned about the desperate choices families are forced to make,” Afghanistan representative and Country Director at WEP, Mary-Ellen McGroarty said, adding, “Unless we intervene now, malnutrition will become more severe. The international community must release the funds they pledged weeks ago, or the impact could be irreversible.”
On Monday, UNICEF had revealed that nearly 600,000 Afghan children under the age of 5 are suffering from acute malnutrition.
Communication Specialist for UNICEF in Afghanistan, Salam Al-Janabi, told the media, “Millions of children across Afghanistan desperately need health and nutrition services. Around 14 million people are food insecure today, including 3.5 million children expected to suffer from acute malnutrition.”
The combined UNICEF and WFP teams are working together for the past 2 months and have treated nearly 40,000 children suffering from malnutrition.
(Avya Mathur)
