Tens of thousands of needy Afghans receive relief aid: UN humanitarian office

Tens of thousands of Afghans have received relief assistance as the aid agencies scaled-up effort to provide assistance to more people before the winter in the Asian country, a UN humanitarian agency said Tuesday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said in a statement that 150 organizations, non-governmental organizations and UN agencies were delivering effective and principled aid in Afghanistan.

Last month, the aid agencies reached 4 million people with food aid, 48,000 children with community-based education, and 580,000 people with primary healthcare, according to the UN agency.

Director of UN World Food Programme (WFP) David Beasley has called the looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan "the worst crisis" on earth.

As many as 95 per cent of people in Afghanistan do not have enough food and added that 23 million people are on the brink of starvation in the country, Khaama Press News Agency reported citing his interview with BBC.

"Imagine if your children or grandchildren are facing death because of the lack of food and you will do everything you can. It happens as the world has 400 trillion dollars assets, it is a big shame for us," the Afghan media outlet said quoting Beasley.

The international organisations have repeatedly acknowledged that children are the most affected people due to recent political changes in Afghanistan and have called on countries to provide humanitarian aids to Afghan children.

As per UNICEF, 14 million children are facing acute food shortages in Afghanistan while five million others are on the brink of malnutrition.

( With inputs from ANI )