March 19, 2022
2 mins read

Malnutrition kills 13,000 Afghan newborns since January

Without ensuring that funds are being used for legitimate humanitarian and commercial purposes, the HRW said it will be impossible to ease the crisis and help Afghanistan’s most vulnerable children….reports Asian Lite News

As the spotlight continues to remain on the Russia-Ukraine war, roughly 13,000 newborns have died from malnutrition and hunger-related diseases in Afghanistan since January.

As many as 95 per cent of the population does not have enough to eat, and 3.5 million children need nutritional support. The United Nations has called the situation “a food insecurity and malnutrition crisis of unparalleled proportions.”

“Since the beginning of the year, roughly 13,000 newborns have died from malnutrition & hunger-related diseases in Afghanistan. That is on average more than 170 babies every single day The country needs a functioning Central Bank. Aid is not enough,” Birgit Schwarz, a senior official of Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a tweet.

Aside from humanitarian aid, which many countries have sent, at this stage, Afghanistan also urgently needs a functioning banking system to address the crisis, as restrictions on Afghanistan’s Central Bank are still making large transactions or withdrawals impossible.

Without ensuring that funds are being used for legitimate humanitarian and commercial purposes, the HRW said it will be impossible to ease the crisis and help Afghanistan’s most vulnerable children.

UN Deputy Special Representative Ramiz Alakbarov, in a statement last week said acute hunger in the country rose from 14 million in July to 23 million in March, forcing households to resort to “desperate measures”.

“Unacceptable trade-offs have caused untold suffering, reduced the quality, quantity, and diversity of food available, led to high levels of wasting in children, and other harmful impacts on the physical and mental wellbeing of women, men, and children,” he spelled out.

A staggering 95 per cent of Afghans are not getting enough to eat, with that number rising to almost 100 per cent in female-headed households, according to the UN Resident Coordinator, who is also deputy head of the UN assistance mission, UNAMA.

“It is a figure so high that it is almost inconceivable. Yet, devastatingly, it is the harsh reality,” he said.

Alakbarov painted a picture of hospital wards filled with malnourished children, many weighing at age one what an infant of six months would weigh in a developed country, with some “so weak they are unable to move”.

Acute malnutrition rates in 28 out of 34 provinces are high with more than 3.5 million children in need of nutrition treatment support, said Dr Alakbarov.

He explained that since mid-August, over 2,500 nutrition treatment sites across all 34 provinces, both urban and rural, have been serving 800,000 acutely malnourished children, “and we plan to reach 3.2 million affected children this year”. (ANI)

ALSO READ: Taliban’s gender apartheid in Afghanistan

Previous Story

UAEJIF partners with ADEK to support Abu Dhabi Reads

Next Story

Diets that don’t work for women

Latest from -Top News

Yunus Govt Faces Heat Over ‘Black Law’

The protest led by the Bangladesh Secretariat Officers and Employees Unity Forum threatened to intensify their actions if the demands were not addressed…reports Asian Lite News Several officials and employees at Bangladesh’s

Khamenei Rejects Trump’s Surrender Demand

Despite heightened tensions, both US and Iranian officials issued mixed signals regarding diplomatic engagement…reports Asian Lite News Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has forcefully rejected US President Donald Trump’s call for

Moscow Pulls Plug on Defence Deal with Berlin

Moscow accused the German leadership of “deliberately ideologically processing” the population of Germany in an anti-Russian vein…reports Asian Lite News Russia announced on Thursday its intention to withdraw from the 1996 military-technical

India Joins Deep-Sea Elite

The Samudrayaan mission aligns with the Indian government’s Blue Economy initiative, which focuses on sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth…reports Asian Lite News After conquering space with the successful Space

Goyal’s Bold Bet: UK Pact Will Unlock Billions

Goyal referred to the FTA as a ”good marriage” agreed between both countries, which would lead to doubling bilateral trade over the next five years….reports Asian Lite News Union Commerce and Industry
Go toTop

Don't Miss

Taliban official holds talks with EU, Canada, UK, US in Doha

The taliban spokesperson noted that his country urgently needs humanitarian

PIA suspends ops in Kabul citing security reasons

The spokesperson emphasised the fact that the PIA had kept