VANCOUVER, CANADA – The United Nations says that almost 16 million people in Afghanistan will face emergency levels of food insecurity this year.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG) released a report today, April 18, showing that access to food has become the most essential need for the people in Afghanistan.
Millions of people, the report says, are unable to either produce or afford food. The prolonged levels of food insecurity has heightened risks of hunger and malnutrition in an environment that aid workers say is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
Compared with sustained drought and poverty in Africa, the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza and Yemen, the characterization speaks to an unprecedented level of vulnerability even in standards applied to some of the most fragile situations in the world.
The United Nations Representation, citing a survey by Gallup Institute, has said that 95% of people in Afghanistan consider themselves to be suffering, and the average life expectancy has decreased over the past five years.
The report states that the earthquakes in Herat and an unprecedented return of migrants and refugees from neighboring countries have demonstrated the detrimental impact of repeated shocks on Afghanistan’s situation and emphasized the need for sustained international cooperation and support.
Indrika Ratwatte, Deputy Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan, said that it is essential to remain committed to human rights principles, gender equality, and women’s empowerment in 2024.
He added that the organization still considers women as key partners in its work and will continue to provide assistance by women, for women, in accordance with the demands of the Afghanistan people.
In practice, however, it is not clear how the UN and other aid agencies can deliver assistance by women given the multitude of restrictive edicts the Taliban regime has invoked. According to one of those edicts which the group’s supreme leader issued in April 2023, women are barred from working in aid agencies including the UN which leads humanitarian efforts in the country.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had previously announced that 23.7 million people in Afghanistan would need humanitarian assistance in 2024.
The UN says that food aid, clean drinking water, healthcare, education, and supporting vulnerable groups, especially women, children, and people with disabilities, are key priorities for relief agencies.
The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan deepens as international appetite to channel funds to the impoverished country dwindles. The UN has appealed for more than $3 billion to address the situation in 2024. Thus far, only less than 10 percent of that request has been met.
According to the most recent UN data, the population growth in the country continues to remain robust, putting its total population at over 44 million people while economic growth is -6.2 percent. Afghanistan’s standing is deteriorating in all development indices, warning of worsening human conditions under the Taliban.
Last year, the World Food Crisis Report placed Afghanistan among seven countries where people faced severe poverty and hunger. Despite the urgency, the World Food Program (WFP) had to remove almost 10 million people from its aid distribution list ahead of a harsh winter because of funding shortfalls.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN said that for the fourth consecutive year, the number of people experiencing acute food insecurity and in need of urgent livelihood assistance has increased.
