Save the Children, a children’s charity, reported today that since January of this year, there have been 47% more children admitted to its mobile health clinics in Afghanistan who are critically undernourished, with several babies passing away before receiving any treatment, according to a ReliefWeb report.
As families struggle to deal with Afghanistan’s worst food crisis on record, there has been an increase in the demand for malnutrition treatment services in recent months. In January, about 2,500 malnourished children were treated by Save the Children’s 57 mobile health teams. According to recently made public data, by September that number had risen to roughly 4,270 children admitted by 66 teams.
Due to the ongoing drought, which has caused failed crops and much smaller harvests than usual, experts had hoped to see a decrease in the rate of hunger in Afghanistan during the recent summer harvest season. However, many rural families have been forced to sell their land and livestock in order to pay for food to feed their children.
Another important factor contributing to the food crisis is the country’s economic collapse, which has increased unemployment, poverty, and food costs to the point where many families are now only able to survive for weeks at a time on bread and water.
Numerous life-saving supplies of food have been given by humanitarian organizations, but the situation is so dire that 50% of Afghans are still suffering from terrible hunger, and 6 million children and adults, or roughly one eighth of the population, are on the verge of starvation.
Doctors with Save the Children report that they are unable to keep up with the demand for their services due to an overwhelming number of malnourished children, particularly young girls who are frequently given less attention than boys when it comes to nursing and complementary feeding.
