KABUL (SWS) – A humanitarian ‘catastrophe’ looms in Afghanistan amid freeze on aid and funds, said multiple aid agencies on Monday ahead of a high-level UN meeting on the country.
Afghanistan is in the grip of a severe humanitarian emergency which is growing more serious by the day as a result of rising food prices, drought and displacement, the Save the Children warned.
The country has the second highest number of people facing emergency levels of hunger in the world, with an estimated 5.5 million children projected to face crisis levels of hunger in the second half of this year. Even before the recent escalation in violence, half of all children aged under five were expected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year. This number is now expected rise due to the combined effects of drought, COVID-19 and recent disruptions to aid efforts.
Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children, said more aid was urgently needed to save lives.”For years, Afghan children have been battling to survive, but the odds are increasingly stacked against them. As we speak, millions of Afghans are on the brink of starvation. Families are selling what little they have to buy scraps of food for their children. Drought is killing off livestock and pushing millions of people into hunger. Afghanistan has been hit by disaster after disaster, and children are paying for it with their lives.
As part of the broader UN flash appeal for $606 million through to the end of 2021, UNFPA has appealed for $29.2 million to respond to the reproductive health and protection needs of 1.6 million vulnerable women and girls.
UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, has appealed for funding to respond to the urgent needs of Afghan women and girls as a humanitarian catastrophe looms in the country.
The political unrest and ongoing volatility in Afghanistan, coupled with the suspension of international donor funding has already had a harmful – and life-threatening – impact on the lives of many women and girls as access to life-saving health care is disrupted; any further reductions, including in support to education and the provision of basic health and social services, will have devastating consequences, with the danger that the country could descend into a protracted humanitarian crisis.
There is an immediate and pressing need for the international community to step up and respond to the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan at scale, to save lives, prevent further suffering and spark hope for a better future.
ENDS
