{"id":5259,"date":"2026-08-08T17:47:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=5259"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:47:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:47:50","slug":"colliding-crises-leave-afghanistans-children-facing-a-malnutrition-emergency-world-food-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=5259","title":{"rendered":"Colliding crises leave Afghanistan\u2019s children facing a malnutrition emergency | World Food Programme"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sediqa’s two young girls count among nearly 3.7 million Afghan children projected to suffer from malnutrition this year. Her impoverished family often lives on a diet of bread and tea. Photo: WFP\/Isheeta Sumra<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The yellow-and-white packages Sediqa\u2019s young daughters grasp playfully offer a nutrient-packed lifeline beyond the family\u2019s spare diet of mostly bread and tea<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no other food,\u201d says Sediqa, as she collects World Food Programme (WFP) nutritional supplements for her 2 malnourished girls, aged 3 and 18 months, at a health centre in southern Afghanistan<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have nutritious food like potatoes, rice, beans or pulses,\u201d Sediqa, a mother of seven, says, \u201cbecause we are poor.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is the story of many families in Afghanistan as colliding crises\u2013 including conflict, unemployment, high food prices, supply chain disruptions and reduced humanitarian funding \u2013 sharply deepen hunger and malnutrition<\/p>\n

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\u201cA visit to a health centre in Afghanistan is a highly distressing experience, where we are practically witnessing the next generation waste away.\u201d \u2013 John Aylieff, WFP Country Director in Afghanistan<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Today, Afghanistan is in the midst of a child malnutrition crisis, WFP warns. Wasting, when children are dangerously underweight for their height, has already reached critical and record levels in a third of the country’s provinces and is projected to keep rising<\/p>\n

\u201cA visit to a health centre in Afghanistan is a highly distressing experience, where we are practically witnessing the next generation waste away,\u201d says John Aylieff, WFP Country Director in Afghanistan. \u201cThis is not simply heartbreaking \u2013 it is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malnutrition emergency afflicts millions<\/h3>\n
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Aid cuts and logistical bottlenecks are threatening the delivery of WFP’s specialized nutritional products to Afghan health centres where they are desperately needed. Photo: WFP\/Ziauddin Safi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Without immediate investment, the outlook for Afghanistan\u2019s youngest citizens is grim, WFP and other experts say. Roughly 3.7 million children are projected to be malnourished in 2026. Another 1.2 million pregnant and nursing women are also expected to face malnutrition, which is driving a surge in communicable diseases<\/p>\n

\u201cAfghanistan is already gripped by one of the world\u2019s most severe and unrelenting malnutrition crises,\u201d Aylieff says, \u201cand recent developments threaten to push these staggering numbers even higher \u2013 raising the terrifying prospect that the crisis could eclipse all previous projections and condemn countless more children and mothers<\/a> to preventable death.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the health centre, Sediqa describes the many barriers preventing her children from leading healthy lives. Her husband, a day labourer suffering from kidney problems, earns the equivalent of US$3 daily \u2013 but only when work is available and he is not out sick. Half of his earnings go to rent, leaving little to feed her children<\/p>

Sediqa’s 3-year-old daughter is tested for malnutrition. Photo: WFP\/Isheeta Sumra<\/figcaption>

\u201cEach of them needs sandals, clothes, medicines, but we can\u2019t afford them,\u201d says Sediqa. Rice, biscuits and milk are also prohibitively expensive. Her children often vomit after<\/a> eating okra and eggplants, she says, the only vegetables her family can afford. She herself is sick with typhoid and often unable to breastfeed<\/p>\n

\u201cI give them bread and tea,\u201d she says of her children. \u201cSometimes they eat, sometimes not.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years, she has relied on one powerful backstop: WFP nutritional support that six of her seven children have received from the clinic<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the patients coming here are malnourished,\u201d says Dr. Samira (name changed for her protection), who works at the health centre treating Sediqa\u2019s children. Over the past few years, the doctor says, she has seen malnutrition soar among pregnant women<\/a> and children<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that WFP sends these food items for the patients because it treats and prevents malnutrition,\u201d Dr. Samira adds of our support. \u201cMost of these patients are poor and can\u2019t afford a healthy diet. If they have these items, it will stop them from falling into malnutrition.\u201d<\/p>\n

WFP’s nutritional backstop at risk<\/h3>\n
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Farida and her sickly children (R) need healthy food \u2013 which she cannot afford on the family’s tiny income. Photo: WFP\/Isheeta Sumra<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But today, aid cuts are shuttering health clinics across Afghanistan and drying up precious nutritional assistance that many Afghan children and women depend on. Funding shortfalls are also forcing WFP to scale back food distributions in Afghanistan. The situation has been aggravated by the Middle East crisis and Pakistan border closures that have disrupted supply chains, driven up operating costs and left nearly 1 million mothers and children missing out on essential nutrition services for five months.<\/p>\n

The cuts could break mothers like Farida, who awaits treatment for her two anaemic children at another health clinic in the country. Like Sediqa, she describes a monotonous diet of bread and tea she gives her three children. It is all she can afford on her husband\u2019s tiny income selling cups<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is sick and wants healthy food,\u201d she says of her oldest son, a 6-year-old, who stands near her. \u201cBut I can\u2019t afford to give it to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only rely on this clinic for medicine and for nutrition,\u201d she adds. \u201cIf food is not here, my children will die.\u201d<\/p>\n

WFP’s work fighting malnutrition in Afghanistan is made possible thanks to support from Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom<\/p>\n

Learn more about how WFP is tackling the nutrition emergency in Afghanistan<\/h4>\n

Now is thetime to act<\/mark><\/h2>\n

WFP relies entirely on voluntary contributions, so every donation counts.
\nDonate today<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The yellow-and-white packages Sediqa\u2019s young daughters grasp playfully offer a nutrient-packed lifeline beyond the family\u2019s spare diet of mostly bread and tea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[791,63,788,789,790],"class_list":["post-5259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-parenting","tag-afghanistans","tag-children","tag-colliding","tag-crises","tag-leave"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5263,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5259\/revisions\/5263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}