UN warns 200,000 more Afghan children face acute malnutrition in 2026
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This year, 3.7 million children in Afghanistan will need malnutrition treatment, the World Food Programme’s country director John Aylieff said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
GENEVA – Hundreds of thousands more children face acute malnutrition in Afghanistan in 2026 amid a hunger crisis exacerbated by foreign aid cuts and violence on the border with Pakistan,
International aid to Afghanistan has fallen sharply since 2021, when US-led forces exited the country and the Taliban regained power
“Acute malnutrition among children is soaring. Last year, we saw the highest surge ever recorded in Afghanistan, and this year, a staggering 3.7 million children will need malnutrition treatment,” the World Food Programme’s country director John Aylieff told a Geneva press briefing.
Some 200,000 additional children face acute malnutrition in 2026, he added.
Funding cuts mean the UN agency only has the resources to treat one in every four children needing treatment for acute malnutrition, Mr Aylieff said.
Others do not even have the means to reach clinics, he said, voicing concerns that some are trapped by snowfall in remote highland areas.
Most children who die in Afghanistan do so “during the winter... at home silently”, he said.
“What I fear is when the snow is melted at the end of March or in April, we will find there has been a very high toll of child deaths in the villages.”
Expulsion policies in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran have resulted in over 5 million returnees since late 2023, further straining limited resources, Mr Aylieff said.
Many of those returning to Afghanistan are close to areas where Pakistani and Afghan troops have clashed in recent days, forcing WFP to suspend some services there.
“We foresee that acute malnutrition will be driven up further by the conflict as people are prevented from accessing health services,” imperilling tens of thousands of children, said Mr Aylieff. REUTERS
