For 23 million Afghans, U.S. aid funding has been a critical lifeline, but that support is now in jeopardy, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid organization said on Friday.
Funding cuts are already having devastating impacts on the country’s most vulnerable communities, especially women and children, IRC said in an article.
IRC said that due to cuts in U.S, aid funding, it has been forced to suspend some of our life-saving services in Afghanistan.
“As a result, over 700,000 people, including refugees and displaced families, will lose access to essential humanitarian services from IRC programming alone,” IRC said, “Life-saving treatment for more than 15,000 young children suffering from malnutrition has been disrupted.”
The organization noted that Afghanistan is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, with over 22.9 million people in urgent need of aid.
“Decades of conflict, a prolonged economic crisis, and environmental disasters have pushed millions into poverty and left more than one in three Afghans food insecure,” it said.
IRC said that the situation is especially dire for vulnerable groups, including over 3 million children and 1.2 million pregnant or nursing mothers suffering from acute malnutrition.
Across the country, more than 14 million people have limited or no access to health care. Communities are losing access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation services, creating a higher risk of disease outbreaks that could potentially spread across international borders, it said.
IRC warned that without renewed funding, countless families risk falling deeper into hunger, illness and poverty.
