Sun 03 October 2021:
According to local and international sources, children are dying of starvation in Afghanistan, following warnings that a million children could face life-threatening malnutrition by the end of the year.
In Ghor, one of the devastated provinces, at least 17 children have died from starvation in the previous six months, according to Mullah Mohammad Ahmadi, the province’s public health director.
Almost 300 people have been treated for hunger-related illnesses.
Hundreds of children in the country’s central regions are at risk of starvation, he said.
Although a spokeswoman for the UN children’s Agency in Afghanistan could not confirm the number of casualties in Ghor, he expressed concern that “a lot of children are paying the ultimate price.”
UNICEF’s Salam Al-Janabi said the agency’s monitoring network had been disrupted and was relying on anecdotal reports, but “we are very painfully aware that this is something we are on the brink of, or in the middle of.”
Since the Taliban swept to power in mid-August, Afghanistan has plunged deeper into an already dire humanitarian crisis.
Drought, skyrocketing food prices, and job losses have been exacerbated by a near-complete halt in international help and financing.
According to the UN, one million children under the age of five in Afghanistan would require treatment for life-threatening “acute severe malnutrition” by the end of the year, with another 3.3 million suffering from acute malnutrition.
Sat 02 October 2021:
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