Afghan children malnourished due to poverty, says kin

Kabul [Afghanistan], July 8 : Some of the families in Kabul have complained that their children are malnourished due to poverty and lack of food, reported Tolo News.

Khan Zada, the father of a malnourished child, said that he is the family's sole breadwinner and that his three-year-old child is malnourished as a result of his inability to provide adequate food for them.

"My last child had malnutrition because of a lack of food for him and his mother," he added.

Tolo News is an Afghan news channel broadcasting from Kabul.

Freshta, the mother of a malnourished child said, "Every day, my husband makes between 50 and 60 Afs. He sometimes arrives empty-handed. We don't have anything to eat for lunch or at night."

However, the Save the Children Fund said in a report that Afghanistan is among the fifteen countries facing food insecurity, reported Tolo News.

"Millions of children around the world are facing hunger. In the 15 worst-affected countries, like South Sudan, Afghanistan or Burkina Faso, one child is pushed into severe acute malnutrition every minute. That's why we urgently need your help. You can give hungry families the support they need to survive, and stop children dying from hunger," Save the Children tweeted.

Meanwhile, India has donated 10,000 metric tonnes of wheat to the landlocked country. United Nations World for Food Programme (UNWFP) said in a tweet on July 3 that this wheat is part of an in-kind contribution of 10,000 metric tons from India on top of 40,000 tons in 2022.

Last month, the Indian government sent another 20,000 metric tons of wheat to Afghanistan amid a humanitarian crisis in the country using Iran's Chabahar port.

Fouzia Shafique, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund's (UNICEF) health lead in Afghanistan, mentioned that this organization will continue its health emergency response project with the aim of providing health services in 34 provinces of Afghanistan, as per Tolo News.

"This is a crucial project for the country right now. And the reason is, we are all aware of the economic crisis that Afghanistan has faced over the last year. We know that more and more Afghans are living in poverty. We know there is a loss of livelihoods. People have lost their jobs, their work. Some displacements in the country, last year alone we had a couple of disease outbreaks," added Fouzia Shafique.

Nearly three million people in Afghanistan have suffered from malnutrition based on the statistics of the Ministry of Public Health in 2022, as per Tolo News.