More than 300,000 additional children in Afghanistan are
expected to need treatment for acute malnutrition in 2027,
as aid cuts continue to strain health and nutrition
services, Save the Children said.
New analysis from
global hunger monitor, Integrated
Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), warned 4.04
million children under five will need acute malnutrition
treatment between January and December 2027, a 9% rise
compared to the same period in 2026. Cases of severe acute
malnutrition are expected to increase 16% to nearly 1.1
million children next year, from 942,000 in 2026.
This
new analysis reports the highest acute malnutrition levels
ever recorded in Afghanistan for the period, according to
the IPC.
About 15.9 million people, or 32% of the
population analysed, are now in Crisis or worse levels of
hunger (IPC Phase 3 or above), according to the IPC. This
includes 3.4 million facing emergency levels of hunger
(Phase 4) – one step away from IPC Phase 5, the highest
level of acute food insecurity, which can include
famine.
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The upcoming winter lean season is expected to
make hunger conditions worse, as farm activity and jobs dry
up, and harsh weather cuts access to remote areas. Between
November 2026 and April 2027, 19.2 million people –
including about 10 million children – are projected to be in
Phase 3 or above, about 3.3 million more people than now,
according to the IPC.
Hunger in the country is
deepening despite improved rainfall and a strong harvest.
Declining humanitarian assistance, weak purchasing power,
and unemployment are leaving many households without knowing
where their next meal will come
from.
Mirwais-, 25, and Asma-, 23,
are constantly moving with their three children in search of
work and water. The family struggles to afford food, and
Asma and 18-month-old Somaya- have both been treated for
acute malnutrition at a Save the Children clinic.
“The
drought has made our situation much worse over the past
several years. We depend on farming for our livelihood, but
this year everything dried up,” Mirwais
said.
” If this clinic were not here, we
would face many challenges. In the past, we had to borrow
money to travel to the city for treatment. Given our
financial situation, those expenses were a heavy burden on
our family.”
Due to a lack of funding, 40 Save the
Children health facilities, including health and nutrition
clinics and mobile health teams, are at risk of closure this
year. These clinics and health teams operate in some of the
most remote and hardest to reach parts of Afghanistan, some
in places where there are no other services available for
communities, including maternal and newborn
care.
Ashish Damle, Country Director, Save the
Children in Afghanistan said:
“Afghanistan is
in the grip of a deadly hunger crisis and there is no end in
sight. Needs are soaring while critical funding is running
dry. Winter is just weeks away, and for children already
battling acute malnutrition, the cold will make survival
even harder.
“Our doctors and nurses witness the
devastating consequences of the hunger crisis every day:
malnourished children arriving at our clinics, mothers going
hungry so their families have something to eat, and parents
desperately seeking help as their children’s health
deteriorates. No parent should have to watch their child
suffer from a treatable condition simply because the care
they need is out of reach.
“Behind every aid cut
is another essential service at risk of closing, and another
family left to face hunger and winter alone. There is no
quick fix for a crisis of this magnitude, but there are
immediate steps we can take to prevent further suffering.
Governments and donors must act now to protect essential
health and nutrition services before even more children are
left without the treatment they urgently need.”
Save
the Children has launched Nourished Futures, a $300 million
global humanitarian nutrition initiative for 2026-2028
bringing together public and private funders to treat and
prevent child malnutrition and illness in the toughest
humanitarian contexts. Partners joining this initiative are
helping reshape the future of humanitarian nutrition,
redesigning together the way the world treats malnutrition –
from a reactive system focused on treating crisis to one
that prevents it.
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.
