Over 3 million Afghan children face acute malnutrition in 2023

Amid the reeling economic crisis and political turmoil, the sufferings of Afghan children have gone worse as the World Food Programme underlined that an estimated 875,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition in 2023 in Afghanistan, TOLOnews reported on Friday.

The WFP report also stated that 2.3 million children as well as 840,000 women are also on the verge of suffering from moderate acute malnutrition.

TOLOnews quoted a two-year-old girl, Zabi's mother as saying that her child has been affected by malnutrition. Zabi's mother lamented the tough times that Afghans are facing under the Taliban regime and added how her second child has also fallen prey to malnutrition, which is only getting worse day by day.

"We have two malnourished children at home. They are malnourished due to lack of food, and clothes and staying in areas with bacteria. This is all due to poverty," said Khal Bibi, mother of Zabi.

The WFP reported the situation of Afghan children as WFP's spokesman in Afghanistan said that they have reached out to 1.4 million people within the first two weeks of January this year, according to the Afghan news agency, TOLOnews.

The economic and political situation of Afghanistan has only gone worse since the Taliban took control of the country in mid-August of 2021.

Afghanistan is currently grappling with a serious humanitarian crisis as according to international assessments, the country now has the highest number of people in emergency food insecurity in the world, with more than 23 million in need of assistance and approximately, 95 percent of the population having insufficient food consumption.

Moreover, the situation of human rights in Afghanistan has worsened since the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban's return to power in August last year.

Additionally, the Ukraine crisis has had a massive impact on the rise in food costs and how it was out of reach for many Afghans. Afghan children and women are impacted the most by the atrocities that the Taliban has unleashed in the country since taking control.

Although the fighting in the country has ended, serious human rights violations continue unabated, especially against women and minorities.