The United Nations has warned that the number of people in Afghanistan struggling with severe hunger and food insecurity will exceed 19 million during the upcoming winter season.
Food Crisis and Its Impact on Children
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has stated that this food crisis will affect millions of children in the upcoming calendar year. It is projected that by 2027, over four million Afghan infants and children under six years old will require specialized treatment for malnutrition.
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Between September and October, 15.9 million people, or nearly one-third of Afghanistan's population, faced food insecurity at a critical level or worse. Among them, 3.4 million were in an emergency situation. OCHA has predicted that this situation will worsen during the winter, between November and April of the following year.
Immediate and Essential Actions
Olga Chervko, OCHA spokesperson in Afghanistan, said in a press conference in Geneva, "It is expected that the number of people facing food insecurity will reach 19.2 million, with five million in an emergency hunger situation; a condition that is just one step away from famine."
Chervko emphasized that actions must be taken before winter arrives, not when there is no way left for families to survive. These actions include delivering food assistance to those in need, protecting livestock and people's livelihoods, supporting farmers before the end of critical planting opportunities, and maintaining access to essential health, nutrition, and water services.
She also noted that more than one million of these children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition. These figures reflect children whose parents cannot provide nutritious food and families whose coping capacity has diminished due to years of war, economic hardships, drought, and other crises.
Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Afghanistan has faced a significant decline in international aid. The Taliban government has repeatedly stated that the international community must separate humanitarian issues from politics.
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