Afghanistan aid cuts shut 100 malnutrition clinics, UN says

The UN says 100 clinics that treated child malnutrition have closed across Afghanistan as international aid falls, while the Red Cross warned that Afghans should not be abandoned.

International Committee of the Red Cross director of operations Yasmine Praz Dessimoz said in Kabul on August 31 that Afghans were struggling with major humanitarian needs and a health system under severe pressure.

UNICEF warned last week that one million Afghan children face life-threatening malnutrition and that 3.7 million suffer from acute malnutrition.

Praz Dessimoz said Afghanistan remains among the ICRC's five largest operations worldwide, but funding cuts had forced difficult choices. She said Afghan people need national and international support.

The ICRC supports 46 clinics and seven rehabilitation centres across Afghanistan, including services for people wounded in conflict or by unexploded ordnance. It has also made communities along the Durand Line a priority because it can engage with parties on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Praz Dessimoz also raised concern about Taliban restrictions on women, including bans on education beyond primary school and some professions. She said the ICRC had kept female staff in its health work but warned that a lack of education for girls could leave too few women health workers in future.

During her week-long visit, she met Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi and Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.