Kabul: Around 3.7 million children in Afghanistan are suffering from wasting, including about 1 million with life-threatening severe acute malnutrition, UNICEF said Tuesday. UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan Tajudeen Oyewale highlighted the gravity of the situation, revealing that nearly 40% of children admitted to hospitals with severe wasting and medical complications are babies under 6 months old.
According to Anadolu Agency, children under 2 years old account for 83% of severe acute malnutrition cases. More than half a million children have been admitted since the beginning of the year for high-risk moderate wasting and severe wasting, Oyewale noted. He reported an alarming rise in the number of severe acute malnutrition cases admitted with medical complications, increasing by one-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. UNICEF stated that half of Afghanistan's children are living in severe child food poverty, consuming foods from two or fewer food groups a day. Children in severely food-insecure households can be up to six times more likely to suffer from wasting during peak malnutrition periods.
Oyewale attributed the worsening situation to successive years of drought, destructive heavy rainfall, and flash floods, compounded by regional instability affecting cross-border trade and livelihoods. Since 2023, over six million people, more than half of them children, have returned to Afghanistan, further straining jobs, household resources, and health and nutrition services.
More than 100 sites treating children with severe wasting have closed this year compared to 2025 due to resource constraints, UNICEF reported. Hundreds of other centers providing nutrition support to children and malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women have also lost funding. The Nutrition Sector response in Afghanistan faces a 57% funding gap, while UNICEF's nutrition program, requiring around $180 million this year, is currently only 22% funded.
Oyewale stressed, "At precisely the moment when the needs are increasing, the services available to children are being reduced due to funding cuts."