Doctors Without Borders has warned of a sharp increase in severe acute malnutrition among children in southern Afghanistan, with many patients arriving at medical centers in critical condition and often delayed.<\/p>\n
According to the organization\u2019s statistics, the number of hospitalizations at its therapeutic feeding centers in Helmand and Kandahar provinces rose by more than 30% from January to April 2026 compared to the average of the same period over the past three years. Most of these children were under one year old.<\/p>\n
Doctors Without Borders cites the sharp reduction in humanitarian program funding, ongoing drought, food insecurity, and disruptions in the supply of food and medicine as key factors exacerbating this crisis. The organization warned that the closure or suspension of hundreds of health centers has weakened timely diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition, limiting families\u2019 access to basic services.<\/p>\n
Anna Lilia Banda, the health coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in southern Afghanistan, said, “Children come to us very late; often in critical condition and with preventable complications.” She emphasized that restoring outpatient and inpatient nutritional services is vital to prevent avoidable child deaths.<\/p>\n
According to the organization, more than 1,500 children with severe malnutrition were admitted to the therapeutic feeding center at Boost Provincial Hospital in Helmand during the first four months of 2026 \u2014 more than double the number reported during the same period in 2022. In Kandahar, over 570 children received inpatient treatment, while more than 300 patients were referred to other health centers due to capacity shortages.<\/p>\n
Doctors Without Borders also reported an increase in malnutrition among mothers, noting that many women lack adequate food access, which reduces their ability to breastfeed and properly care for their infants.<\/p>\n
While the Taliban administration has repeatedly claimed improvements in health conditions, field reports from aid agencies indicate that resource shortages, coordination weaknesses, and structural limitations have created serious challenges for the health sector. The reduction of international financial support has added further pressure on health facilities.<\/p>\n
Doctors Without Borders has called on international donors, Afghan health authorities, and aid organizations to urgently restore funding for nutrition programs, ensure uninterrupted supply of therapeutic foods and essential medicines, and expand life-saving services to prevent further deterioration of the crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Doctors Without Borders reports a 30% rise in severe child malnutrition in southern Afghanistan, urging urgent funding and expanded health services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-important-news","category-top-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}