An alarming number of children are needing treatment for malnourishment in eastern Nangarhar province, but the health system doesn’t have the capacity to treat them all, Afghan health officials say.
In the past six months, the provincial health authorities under the Taliban de facto government say that Nangarhar has recorded over 18,000 children needing treatment for malnourishment – an average of 3,000 children per month.
“The number of severely malnourished children has reached 18,239 in the last six months,” paediatrician Dr Tawhidullah Azizi at Nangarhar provincial hospital said. “The total number of malnourished children [in the province] is 90,722.”
Dr Azizi said the total includes the capital and districts of Nangarhar, with the situation causing concern for health officials especially with the steep increase expected to continue.
“The main reasons [for the rising numbers] are lack of food and unhealthy nutrition of children, economic problems of families, and migration [of refugees].”
Taliban spokesperson for the provincial Public Health Department Naqibullah Rahimi said humanitarian organisations are helping with some support.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has opened a care center that can accommodate 20 severely malnourished patients at a time, Mr Rahimi said.
And the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Food Program (WFP) have also started distribution of “enriched milk powder and vitamin biscuits” in Nangarhar’s health and treatment centers, he added.
But local residents told Rukhshana Media these efforts were not enough to address the need.
Nangarhar resident Ibrahim brought his ten-year-old son to the provincial hospital with suspected malnutrition.
Ibrahim said he does not know the root cause of his son’s condition, but he believes it stems from the family’s poverty and the challenge of buying enough food for them to ear. He said in recent times, they have not ever had a full meal to eat.
However, Ibrahim said he was disappointed by the hospital treatment, saying there was not enough support for them at the hospital.
“My son is nine or ten years old, his weight is low, and his body is very weak. I brought him to the hospital, but here my son is not taken care of, and he may not be treated on time,” Ibrahim said.
“I don’t have enough money to transfer to a well-equipped hospital. If I had money, I would take my son to a private hospital.”
The WFP has estimated that around four million mothers and children in Afghanistan suffer from malnutrition, and has called on the international community and donor countries to speed up their financial assistance to change this situation.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X this week that 13 million people – or about 30 percent of people in Afghanistan – are facing acute food insecurity.
“Close to 1 million children are severely malnourished and 2.3 million are suffering from moderate acute malnutrition. With immune systems weakened and in the face of a harsh winter, they are at higher risk of dying from infectious diseases,” he wrote.
The WHO is seeking US$185 million “to continue providing medicines and supporting hospitals to prevent more Afghan children and women dying of malnutrition and the consequences of food insecurity,” Mr Ghebreyesus said.
