One million children in Afghanistan are suffering from life-threatening malnutrition amid the deepening crisis in the country, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.
According to the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, in Afghanistan 3.7 million children suffer from wasting — an acute form of malnutrition. Among them, one million children have severe acute malnutrition, which threatens their lives, reported UNICEF representative in Afghanistan Tajudeen Oyewale.
“If there is no treatment and we cannot act quickly, this one million children are at risk of dying,” he said during a media briefing in Geneva, speaking from Kabul.
Increase in hospitalizations
Afghanistan has experienced multiple periods of large-scale famine in recent decades, overcoming the consequences of civil war and other crises. The economic collapse began after the Taliban returned to power and the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces in 2021.
Oyewale noted that nearly 40% of children hospitalized with severe wasting and medical complications were infants under six months of age. Meanwhile, children under two years of age account for over 80% of cases of severe acute malnutrition in Afghanistan.
“Malnutrition plays a central role” in the increasing number of deaths among the youngest children, Oyewale added.
Hospitals overwhelmed by patient influx
Oyewale described the situation as “a worsening nutrition crisis” across the country. Since the beginning of this year, more than half a million children have been hospitalized due to moderate or severe wasting, posing a high risk to their health.
In July 2025, about 6,000 such cases were recorded. In July this year, their number exceeded 8,000, increasing by approximately one-third.
“In some areas of southern Afghanistan, hospitals now have three to four children with severe malnutrition for every available bed,” he warned.
Source: Euronews
