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3.7M Afghan Children Face Wasting as Aid Funding Collapses
(MENAFN) Roughly 3.7 million children in Afghanistan are suffering from wasting, among them nearly 1 million battling life-threatening severe acute malnutrition, UNICEF reported Tuesday.
UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan Tajudeen Oyewale said close to 40% of children hospitalized with severe wasting and medical complications are infants under six months old, while kids under two make up 83% of all severe acute malnutrition cases.
Since the start of the year, more than half a million children have been admitted for high-risk moderate or severe wasting, Oyewale said. Cases involving medical complications climbed sharply too — up a third, from 6,000 in July 2025 to 8,000 by July 2026.
“In parts of southern Afghanistan, some hospitals are now seeing three or four severely malnourished children for every available bed,” Oyewale said.
Half of the country's children now live in severe child food poverty, according to UNICEF, meaning their daily diet draws from just two or fewer food groups. Kids in severely food-insecure households, the agency added, can face up to six times the risk of wasting during peak malnutrition periods.
Oyewale pointed to a cascade of compounding factors: back-to-back years of drought, destructive downpours and flash flooding, plus regional instability disrupting cross-border trade and livelihoods. Since 2023, six million people — more than half of them children — have returned to Afghanistan, straining jobs, household budgets, and health and nutrition services even further.
The crisis is colliding with a funding retreat. More than 100 sites treating severely wasted children have shut down this year compared with 2025 due to resource shortfalls, UNICEF said, while hundreds of additional centers supporting malnourished children and pregnant or breastfeeding women have also lost their funding.
The broader Nutrition Sector response in Afghanistan is running at a 57% funding gap. UNICEF's own nutrition program, which needs roughly $180 million this year, is currently just 22% funded, the agency said.
“At precisely the moment when the needs are increasing, the services available to children are being reduced due to funding cuts,” Oyewale said.
UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan Tajudeen Oyewale said close to 40% of children hospitalized with severe wasting and medical complications are infants under six months old, while kids under two make up 83% of all severe acute malnutrition cases.
Since the start of the year, more than half a million children have been admitted for high-risk moderate or severe wasting, Oyewale said. Cases involving medical complications climbed sharply too — up a third, from 6,000 in July 2025 to 8,000 by July 2026.
“In parts of southern Afghanistan, some hospitals are now seeing three or four severely malnourished children for every available bed,” Oyewale said.
Half of the country's children now live in severe child food poverty, according to UNICEF, meaning their daily diet draws from just two or fewer food groups. Kids in severely food-insecure households, the agency added, can face up to six times the risk of wasting during peak malnutrition periods.
Oyewale pointed to a cascade of compounding factors: back-to-back years of drought, destructive downpours and flash flooding, plus regional instability disrupting cross-border trade and livelihoods. Since 2023, six million people — more than half of them children — have returned to Afghanistan, straining jobs, household budgets, and health and nutrition services even further.
The crisis is colliding with a funding retreat. More than 100 sites treating severely wasted children have shut down this year compared with 2025 due to resource shortfalls, UNICEF said, while hundreds of additional centers supporting malnourished children and pregnant or breastfeeding women have also lost their funding.
The broader Nutrition Sector response in Afghanistan is running at a 57% funding gap. UNICEF's own nutrition program, which needs roughly $180 million this year, is currently just 22% funded, the agency said.
“At precisely the moment when the needs are increasing, the services available to children are being reduced due to funding cuts,” Oyewale said.
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