Afghan child malnutrition hits record highs as aid cuts deepen crisis

Summary

Child malnutrition has reached critical levels in a third of Afghanistan's provinces and is expected to worsen as funding shortfalls force cuts in food distributions and other support, the UN World Food Programme said on Tuesday. The agency said nearly 3.7 million Afghan children are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year, along with 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women. It said 12 provinces have reached critical levels of acute child malnutrition, the highest number recorded in the country. "We must act now to stem the rise in child deaths, which this crisis is provoking," John Aylieff, WFP's country director in Afghanistan, said in a statement, adding that "it is already too late for too many." Afghanistan is still recovering from decades of conflict and upheaval, including the chaotic withdrawal of US forces in 2021 as the Taliban took power. Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office in Afghanistan, said nutrition specialists reported that "wasting among children has worsened this year in over three-quarters of the country". Children suffering from wasting are acutely malnourished, become very thin for their height, and need immediate therapeutic feeding. But, she said, "too many children arrive at health facilities severely malnourished" while others never make it. Cherevko was speaking to reporters at UN headquarters by video from Afghanistan, where she has travelled across the country in recent months and weeks. WFP said 142 health centres closed in 2025 because of aid reductions, and more than 13,000 children lost access to nutrition treatment. The agency also said supply shortages linked to conflict in the Middle East and the nine-month closure of Pakistan's border because of fighting between the neighbours have disrupted deliveries of nutrition products.