The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported that 3.7 million children under the age of five in Afghanistan are at high risk of malnutrition. The report reveals that food and nutrition insecurity have spread across the country\u2019s provinces, with young children suffering the most.<\/p>\n
Based on a first-of-its-kind large-scale assessment, the study evaluated the state of child malnutrition alongside real experiences of food insecurity during childhood. Key indicators of this crisis include reduced dietary diversity, skipped meals, decreased food intake, and children going hungry.<\/p>\n
The report, titled “Too Little, Too Late: The Crisis of Young Children’s Diets in Afghanistan,” was released as the country enters the peak season of severe wasting. Nutrition data shows that malnutrition has worsened in 26 out of 34 provinces compared to 2025, signaling the expansion of the crisis ahead of the critical months from July to September.<\/p>\n
UNICEF has warned that children under two years old are the most vulnerable, accounting for 83 percent of severe malnutrition cases and 77 percent of moderate malnutrition cases. The agency also noted that children from households experiencing severe food insecurity are up to six times more likely to suffer from severe wasting during peak malnutrition periods.<\/p>\n
Tajuddin Oywale, UNICEF\u2019s representative in Afghanistan, emphasized that young children are heading towards a crisis even before the peak malnutrition season begins, and urgent action must be taken before they reach severe stages.<\/p>\n
UNICEF does not attribute the situation solely to a lack of nutrition services but cites disease outbreaks, low vaccination coverage, inadequate water and sanitation services, weak healthcare, and reduced budgets and supplies as exacerbating factors. While the Taliban administration is responsible for managing public services, international organizations have repeatedly warned that without effective planning and sustained access to essential services, the risk of worsening child malnutrition in Afghanistan will continue to grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNICEF warns 3.7 million Afghan children under five face high malnutrition risk amid worsening food insecurity and limited healthcare access.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-important-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17313","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=17313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}