Afghanistan malnutrition 'spinning out of control': UN

Afghanistan’s malnutrition crisis is “spinning out of control”, the UN World Food Programme warned Tuesday, saying aid cuts are leaving many acutely malnourished women and children without help.

John Aylieff, WFP’s Afghanistan country director, said children are being rushed to health centres in growing numbers, but many arrive too late to be saved.

He told reporters in Geneva from Kabul that child wasting, the deadliest form of malnutrition, has reached critical levels in one third of Afghanistan’s provinces.

Aylieff said conflict, trade disruptions, forced returns from neighbouring countries and major aid cuts were driving unprecedented levels of acute malnutrition. Children under two account for 80 percent of the worst cases, he said.

WFP has enough funding this year to feed only one in seven acutely malnourished women and children, Aylieff said. He said the agency is turning away the other six out of seven without assistance.

The agency said close to 14 million Afghans are acutely hungry and that funding cuts mean it has been able to feed only one in nine of them. It has also stopped food distributions intended to prevent famine in some hotspots.

WFP said it needed $900 million at the start of the year but has received $130 million so far. It now needs $540 million to address acute food insecurity in Afghanistan over the next six months.