KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced that it is providing therapeutic food to treat 475,000 children suffering from malnutrition across Afghanistan.
In a recent post on X, UNICEF highlighted the effectiveness of ready-to-use therapeutic food, rich in protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals, as a vital tool in treating acute malnutrition.
The organization stressed the urgency of the crisis, with an estimated 2.9 million Afghan children projected to suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of this year.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP), four million children, infants, and breastfeeding mothers in Afghanistan are already grappling with malnutrition. In October, UNICEF reported that 343,000 children had been hospitalized for the treatment of severe malnutrition.
This crisis has been exacerbated by economic collapse, limited healthcare access, and persistent food insecurity. Reports from Nangarhar province said that at least 700 children have died from malnutrition and seasonal diseases in the past six months.
Despite the dire need, humanitarian operations face severe funding shortfalls. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had requested $3.06 billion for Afghanistan this year, but only 37.5% of the funding has been secured.
The collapse of Afghanistan’s economy following the Taliban’s return to power has plunged the nation into one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.
Over half of the population—nearly 24 million people, including 12 million children—requires urgent humanitarian assistance, according to UN estimates.
As the crisis deepens, the outlook for 2025 remains grim, with OCHA predicting that 22.9 million Afghans will require humanitarian aid, necessitating $2.24 billion in funding.
