UNICEF reported that nearly 2.9 million children in Afghanistan will face acute malnutrition this year, with over 850,000 of them requiring treatment.
The organization also mentioned that the European Union has recently contributed 13 million euros to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
UNICEF said that this money will be spent on treating malnutrition patients and education.
Among the children is four-year-old Samiullah, who has was admitted to the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital on Friday.
His mother brought him from Kapisa to Kabul for treatment.
Basmina, the mother of the sick child, said: “He was hospitalized three times in Kapisa due to malnutrition, diarrhea, and vomiting. Once, he was hospitalized in the provincial hospital for 10 days, where he was on IV fluids for five days, and then he was transferred to the nutrition ward for five more days.”
Doctor Mohammad Arif Hassanzai said: “The treatment is not with a single medicine, syrup, or tablet, but rather with special food that should be given to help the child regain normal weight.”
Part of UNICEF’s statement mentioned that with the 13 million euros donation,” UNICEF will procure 62,000 cartons of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and train 1,600 health workers to treat severe acute malnutrition among children under five.
Additionally, UNICEF will improve the quality of learning in 275 community-based education classes to enable 9,500 children (61 percent girls) to access primary education. This will include training teachers and school management committees and provision of school supplies.”
Simultaneously, the Ministry of Public Health reports that 358,000 cases of severe malnutrition have been recorded across the country since the beginning of this year.
Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health, told TOLOnews: “From the beginning of 2024 until now, 358,000 children have been registered with severe malnutrition, while 185,000 moderate malnutrition cases have been registered and treated.”
The UNICEF statement also mentioned that 23.7 million people in Afghanistan, more than half of whom are children, will need humanitarian assistance this year.
