KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Denmark has donated 35 million Danish kroner ($5.49 million) to the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund (AHF), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced on Monday.
In a post on X, OCHA expressed gratitude for the contribution, stating it will enable frontline responders to deliver life-saving assistance and help vulnerable communities recover from repeated shocks across the country.
The Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund, set up by the UN in 2014 and managed by OCHA, serves as a key mechanism for rapid and flexible humanitarian financing. It supports emergency shelter, food assistance, cash transfers, home reconstruction, and other critical aid, with a focus on populations hit by natural disasters and other crises.
The donation arrives as Afghanistan grapples with one of the world’s most severe and protracted humanitarian crisis driven by earthquakes, drought, flooding, mass returns of Afghan refugees from neighboring countries, and a sharp drop in international aid.
According to the UN, nearly 22 million people — almost half of Afghanistan’s population — require humanitarian assistance this year, with women and children forming the majority of those in need. The World Food Programme has warned that about 5 million women and children are experiencing acute malnutrition, describing it as the worst recorded surge.
For 2026, OCHA and partners have appealed for $1.72 billion to reach about 17.5 million of the most vulnerable people with essential support, including food, shelter, healthcare, and protection services. As of the first quarter, only about 10% of the appeal had been funded, highlighting a sharp decline in donor contributions in recent years.
Humanitarian agencies have warned that without a substantial increase in funding, conditions are expected to deteriorate further, heightening the risk of starvation and other life-threatening outcomes for thousands of Afghans, particularly women and children.
