World Food Program released this year’s report on January 5 and 24 points to a crisis that “millions of children are suffering from wasting and chronic malnutrition.”
Half of Afghanistan endures severe hunger throughout the year, regardless of the season, and malnutrition rates are at a record high for Afghanistan.” Said Phillipe Kropf, a spokesperson for the UN food agency in Kabul.
“There are 7 million children (under the age of 5) and mothers who are malnourished in a country with a population of 40 million,” he added.
He said that although Afghans are not starving to death, they cannot stop the humanitarian disaster due to a lack of resources.
Since the interim government took control of power in August 2021, it led millions into chronic hunger after foreign aid sopped almost overnight.
On the other hand, the international community sanctioned the de facto regime and restricted the average pace of communication with global institutions and outside aid agencies/countries.
The recent decree banned Afghan women from working with an international organization, severely disrupting the national and international aid agencies.
The ban impact has been estimated that out of 437 mobile health centres, 115 stopped, affecting 82,000 children and pregnant women; the suspension of training projects is hurting 39,300 people, primarily women. In contrast, the document stated that the pause of a school snack program had hit 616,000 students.
The ban on Afghan women working with NGOs has drawn international condemnation and weeks of campaigning to get it lifted. However, the current government still has not changed their policy concerning Afghan women working with national and international aid agencies.
