Afghan children will die because of the reduction in United States (U.S) funding, said an official from the humanitarian agency Action Against Hunger.
Action Against Hunger initially suspended all activities funded by the U.S. in March, after the money suddenly stopped coming. The most important aid in the northeastern province of Badakhshan and the capital city Kabul was then provided through funding from their own budget, but that too was halted this month.
The nutrition unit in Kabul is closing this week, agencies report, adding that the U.S. provided 43 percent of all international humanitarian funds to Afghanistan last year.
|”If we do not treat children with acute malnutrition, there is a very high risk of their death,” said the director of Action Against Hunger, Cobi Rietveld.
No child should die due to malnutrition. If we do not fight hunger, people will die. If they do not receive medical aid, they will die, she added.
Children who came to the nutrition unit often did not have the strength to even walk, or even crawl. Sometimes they could not eat, because they had no energy. Rietveld said they would refer the children to other places.
More than 3.5 million children in Afghanistan will suffer from acute malnutrition this year, which is a 20 percent increase compared to 2024. Decades of conflict, poverty, and climate change have contributed to the worsening of the humanitarian crisis in the country.
