The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Afghanistan has warned that malnutrition rates are alarmingly high and have already affected four million people in the country.
“This includes 875,000 and 2.3 million severely and moderately acutely malnourished children and 840,000 pregnant and nursing women,” UNOCHA said in a tweet on Sunday, adding that sustained funding was critical to ensuring continued preventive and curative treatment.
The Afghan economy collapsed following the the US withdrawal and the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, pushing the country into a humanitarian crisis.
The Taliban’s recent ban on women aid workers forced many humanitarian aid organizations to suspend their operations across the country which further deepened humanitarian crisis in the country.
According to the UN, 97 percent of Afghanistan’s population live in poverty, of whom 28 million are dependent on aid for survival, with 6 million being on the verge of famine.