Afghanistan: Funding gaps in nutrition response place thousands of lives at risk

The nutrition situation in Afghanistan is worsening, and the nutrition response in Afghanistan is struggling to meet the needs of an estimated 2.9 million acutely malnourished children due to a combination of funding gaps and access issues. 

The data in this paper shows that almost 580,000 children in need of life-saving nutrition care in Afghanistan risk being missed in 2024. Around half of these children (almost 228,000) are suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) – without care they are 12 times more likely to die than healthy children. The highest prevalence of malnutrition has been reported in Helmand (22.3% of children are malnourished) and Daykundi (17.5% of children are malnourished). Action Against Hunger (ACF) is active in both Helmand and Daykundi, and can use the data collected from its operations to underline the needs of the population, and the challenges faced by the country-wide nutrition response.

The key drivers of malnutrition are disease outbreak which exacerbate malnutrition, insufficient food diversity and frequency, high food insecurity and poor access to health and nutrition services. Increasing restrictions on women have contributed to issues in access. Poor access has further been highlighted in this paper by analyzing admission trends: while rates of acutely malnourished children have not significantly changed since last year, admission rates between January and July 2024 have dropped by 16% compared to the same period in 2023. This reduction in admission is largely attributed to the widespread closure of Mobile Health and Nutrition Teams (MHNTs), 52% of which have been closed since last year. The closures are down to decrees from the de-facto authorities (DfA) recommending fixed facilities over mobile teams, and a lack of funding. Finally, geographic coverage of Therapeutic Feeding Units (TFU) remains low. Data from ACF-run units shows that 60% of people travel over the recommended distance to reach services.