RASC News Agency: As Afghanistan continues to grapple with an escalating humanitarian catastrophe, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has launched a critical intervention to safeguard the lives of the country’s youngest and most vulnerable citizens. Under its newly announced program, UNICEF will provide targeted cash assistance to 66,000 families with infants and children under 18 months of age, in an urgent bid to address the growing malnutrition crisis. The initiative will be rolled out in some of Afghanistan’s most impoverished and underserved provinces Zabul, Kunar, Samangan, and Ghor where decades of conflict, economic collapse, and restricted access to essential services have left families on the brink of survival. The support, which is set to continue for 18 months, is designed to help families meet their infants’ most basic needs, including access to nutritious food, clean water, and essential healthcare.
UNICEF’s latest report, released on Monday, May 12, paints a grim picture of Afghanistan’s nutritional landscape. Rates of acute and chronic malnutrition among children have surged to alarming levels, particularly in the targeted provinces, where the convergence of war, poverty, and state dysfunction under Taliban rule has created a perfect storm for humanitarian collapse. The organization warns that, without urgent and sustained interventions, the number of malnourished children could surpass 3.5 million by the end of the year. UNICEF emphasized that malnutrition in Afghanistan is no longer just a public health issue it is a silent emergency with far-reaching implications for the country’s future. “Children suffering from malnutrition are not only at greater risk of illness and death,” the report stated, “but they are also more likely to experience stunted physical growth and irreversible cognitive impairment that will hinder their learning, productivity, and long-term potential.”
The crisis, the report explains, has been compounded by severe food insecurity, a deteriorating healthcare infrastructure, and the near-total collapse of government social services since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. For millions of Afghanistani families particularly those in rural areas the cost of survival has become unbearably high, and access to pediatric care, therapeutic feeding, and maternal support is almost non-existent. UNICEF’s cash assistance program, funded by the Asian Development Bank and a network of global donors, represents a dual-purpose strategy: a humanitarian lifeline for families teetering on the edge of destitution, and a structural measure aimed at preventing the collapse of child nutrition in the hardest-hit regions.
The organization noted that while immediate cash relief is essential, it is only one part of a broader solution. “We are dealing with a multidimensional crisis nutrition, healthcare, livelihoods, and protection are all interconnected,” UNICEF stated. “Without a coordinated international response, supported by sustainable financing and political commitment, Afghanistan’s malnutrition crisis will deepen and create irreversible long-term damage.” In addition to its field activities, UNICEF has issued an urgent appeal to the international community for increased engagement and funding. The organization underscored that the severity of the crisis requires more than piecemeal efforts; it demands sustained and large-scale action, including the rebuilding of healthcare systems, investment in maternal and child nutrition, and the establishment of reliable safety nets.
“This is not a localized emergency it is a national catastrophe unfolding in plain sight,” UNICEF warned. “The children of Afghanistan are facing a future defined by hunger, illness, and loss of potential. If the world turns away now, it will be complicit in a generational tragedy.” UNICEF further stressed that the implications of child malnutrition extend far beyond physical health. Chronic undernutrition erodes brain development, weakens educational outcomes, and deepens intergenerational poverty. In a country already devastated by war and authoritarianism, the failure to protect children’s rights to health and nutrition threatens to cripple any hope of recovery.
“The fight against malnutrition is a fight for justice, dignity, and the right to a future,” the agency declared. “Every child deserves the opportunity not only to survive, but to thrive. We cannot let Afghanistan’s next generation slip through the cracks of global indifference.”
