The number of acutely malnourished children in
Afghanistan is increasing with nearly one in 10 children
under five suffering from wasting at a time when plummeting
funding is shuttering essential services and threatening
progress, Save the Children said. [1]
Levels of
wasting in children – or acute malnutrition – worsened in
two thirds of provinces in the second quarter of 2026,
compared to the same period last year, according to the UN,
with current cases driven by increases in infectious
diseases [2]. This is the peak season for malnutrition in
Afghanistan, where the Taliban regained control five years
ago.
Over the last four years, acute malnutrition in
children under five has surged by 14%, affecting 3.7 million
children in 2026 [3]. The same four-year period has seen
humanitarian aid for Afghanistan fall by almost 70% from
$3.27 billion in 2022 to $1 billion in 2025, with only $438
million secured more than halfway through 2026 – a 74%
funding gap [4].
Nearly 600 health facilities have
been shut or suspended due to funding cuts, impacting about
four million people – around half of them children
[5].
Save the Children has managed to keep 14 health
clinics open following aid cuts with short-term funding,
providing essential services in some of the most remote
parts of the country, but the future of those clinics – and
others – is now in jeopardy.
In a mountainous, hard to
reach part of northern Afghanistan, Save the Children is the
only healthcare provider for 10,000 people. The clinic sees
over 100 patients every day, some of whom travel for two to
three hours on foot to see doctors, nutrition nurses and
midwives.
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Transport options are limited and costly,
and few can pay about US$60 to reach the city hospital. If
the clinic closes, people would have to walk for seven hours
for treatment.
Sama-, 35, lives with her seven
children and her husband – who earns about US $3 a day – and
relies on Save the Children’s free clinic when her
children are sick. When her youngest child Mustafa-, nine
months, became weak, she took him to the clinic where he was
diagnosed with malnutrition and received treatment, while
Sama- was advised on how to prepare nutritious food.
Mustafa-’s condition has now stabilised and he is
recovering well. Left untreated, acute malnutrition can be
life-threatening, but with the right treatment, many
children can fully recover.
Sama- said:
“As he
is the youngest child in the family, when he is unwell, the
whole family becomes worried and does everything possible to
make sure he recovers and stays healthy, active, and
happy.”
Marva-, a Save the Children nutrition nurse at
the clinic, said:
“Before this clinic was established,
people had to travel to the district clinic, which could
take several hours by donkey or motorbike, or to the city
hospital, which was often almost inaccessible.
“Many
community members could not afford the cost of treatment,
and during the winter, roads are frequently blocked by snow,
rainfall, and flooding, making them extremely difficult to
cross and preventing people from accessing essential
healthcare services.”
About 700,000 people, including
140,000 children under five, have lost access to primary
health services due to closure or scale-down of Save the
Children supported health facilities and mobile health teams
as a result of aid cuts since early
2025.
Afghanistan’s population has grown by up to
12% since September 2023 – adding to increasing numbers in
need as humanitarian funding is decimated. More than six
million people have returned from Iran and Pakistan as both
countries enforce criteria that Afghans must meet to remain
in those countries, or face deportation.
Ashish Damle,
Country Director, Save the Children in Afghanistan
said:
“The world cannot look away. Severe hunger, the
staggering number of returnees and mass internal
displacement due to disasters , recent conflict and four
years of drought are stretching limited humanitarian
resources to the brink.
“Poverty affects nutrition.
Water scarcity contributes to illness. Illness interrupts
education. Reduced household income increases child labour.
Climate shocks, displacement and declining economic
opportunities deepen these pressures, creating a cycle that
is increasingly difficult for families to escape.
“We
know what Afghanistan’s 22 million children need. We know
what works to break the ever-increasing crises that upend
their lives, but essential humanitarian programmes are under
threat due to a devastating lack of funding and an absence
of long-term development assistance from
governments.
“The international community now faces a
choice: continue responding only after families reach
breaking point, or act early enough to protect children’s
lives, rights and futures.”
Save the Children has been
working in Afghanistan since 1976, including through periods
of conflict, displacement and natural disasters. We
currently run programmes in nine provinces and work with
partners across an additional 11 provinces, delivering
services in health, nutrition, education, child protection,
shelter, water, sanitation, hygiene and livelihoods. Last
year we reached more than 2 million people, nearly half
children. Nearly 5,000 children were successfully treated
for severe acute malnutrition and 1.4 million people
received outpatient consultations in our
clinics.
References:
– Denotes name changed to
protect identity
[1] https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-nutrition-surveillance-bulletin-15-edition-quarter-2-2026
[2]
https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-nutrition-surveillance-bulletin-15-edition-quarter-2-2026
[3]
2022: https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1156185/?iso3=AFG
2026:
https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1159817/?iso3=AFG
[4]
Figures as of 4 August 2026. https://fts.unocha.org/countries/1/summary/2026
[5]
445 health facilities suspended or closed as of Dec 2025 https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-suspendedclosed-health-facilities-due-us-government-work-stop-ban-update-20-december-2025
.
150 closed or suspended since Jan 2026 according
to the World Health Organization. https://x.com/HananBalkhy/status/2074752651045294333?s=20
