Afghanistan’s acute malnutrition emergency

Wat er veranderde

• 14 million people faced acute hunger at the August seasonal peak.
• Only 12% of needed WFP funding was available in mid-August.
• 3.7 million children suffer wasting, including around 1 million severe cases.
• WFP could reach just one in seven women and children in need in early August.
• UN staff are being retrained to handle suicide-related calls amid famine warnings.

Toen nog open

• No verified total for whether general distributions have fully stopped or are being scaled back province by province.
• No verified current coverage rate versus 2022, and no verified increase figure versus 2021 on this evidence.

Waar we op zouden letten

• Whether new funding arrives before the lean winter season compounds the August peak.
• Whether child deaths reported by WFP rise further and whether famine conditions are confirmed.

Wat we eerst wisten

• Child wasting hit critical levels in roughly one-third of Afghanistan’s provinces, a record described as unprecedented.
• Nearly 3.7 million children and 1.2 million pregnant or breastfeeding women face acute malnutrition in 2026.
• WFP paused August-October famine-prevention work and seeks about $540 million to avert rising child deaths.

Toen nog open

• The full count of shuttered health facilities and the complete list of supply-route disruptions beyond regional conflict and scale-backs.
• How many of the six in seven currently unreached will progress to severe wasting without resumed distributions.

Waar we op zouden letten

• Whether donors fund the $540 million appeal in time to restart autumn famine-prevention distributions.
• Whether therapeutic supplies reach critical provinces before severe cases and child deaths climb further.