Afghanistan's child malnutrition crisis 'spinning out of control', UN warns

Child malnutrition in Afghanistan is reaching critical levels, driven by drastic aid cuts, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.

John Aylieff, the Afghanistan country director for the UN's World Food Program (WFP), said the number of children being rushed to health centres is soaring, with many arriving too late to be saved.

Why is Afghanistan's child malnutrition crisis getting worse?

Aylieff said conflict, trade disruptions, forced returns from neighboring countries and dramatic aid cuts are driving unprecedented levels of acute malnutrition. He said the country's nutrition crisis "is spinning out of control," warning that child wasting, the deadliest form of malnutrition, has reached critical levels in one third of Afghanistan's provinces.

"It's a crisis which is getting worse by the day, and tragically one which we are unable to contain," he told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Kabul. He said last year saw the highest year-on-year surge in malnutrition, and this year the situation is "even worse."

"The number of children being rushed to health centers is soaring" but "too many of them are arriving too late to be saved," he said. Children aged under two make up 80 percent of the worst cases.

How many children is WFP able to help?

Aylieff said WFP only had sufficient funds this year to feed one in seven acutely malnourished women and children. "We are turning away six out of seven and we're turning them away empty-handed, with absolutely nothing," he said.

"Feeble cries of malnourished babies haunt the health clinics of Afghanistan," he said. He warned the crisis "could eclipse all previous projections and condemn countless more children and mothers to preventable death."

How does the malnutrition crisis affect wider stability?

Aylieff warned that hunger drives migration, radicalization and ultimately instability, and said an unstable Afghanistan is "in no-one's interest," given the history of instability spilling across the country's borders. He said millions of Afghans have been forcibly returned from neighboring countries such as Iran and Pakistan over the past three years, adding further strain within the country.

This year brought a better harvest, but Aylieff said that gain has been completely offset by Afghanistan's other challenges. He said close to 14 million Afghans are acutely hungry, and that funding cuts have left WFP able to feed only one in nine of them.

How much funding does WFP need for Afghanistan?

The UN agency has completely stopped food distributions aimed at preventing famine in particular hotspots, Aylieff said, because "we simply don't have the funding." WFP needed $900 million at the start of the year but has received only $130 million so far.

The agency said it now needs $540 million to address acute food insecurity in Afghanistan over the next six months. "We would like all donors to be returning to Afghanistan to address the humanitarian situation, including the United States and others that have ceased funding Afghanistan," Aylieff said.