Afghanistan: Afghan women and children pay the price as crises converge and funding shrinks

Country: Afghanistan Source: World Food Programme KABUL, Afghanistan – Mothers and children in Afghanistan are bearing the brunt of a surging malnutrition emergency, as converging crises — economic distress, regional conflict, mass returns from Pakistan and Iran, and deep cuts to humanitarian funding — overwhelm an already stretched response, warned the UN World Food Programme’s Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau at the end of a visit to the country. “WFP has been sounding alarm bells for months,” said Skau. “This week I met malnourished mothers and children who travelled for over two hours to reach a WFP-supported clinic in Hisar Shahi camp, only to be turned away because we have no nutritious supplements left to give them. What I saw in eastern Afghanistan is happening across the country and it is heartbreaking and totally unacceptable.” Afghanistan is already facing near-record malnutrition, with nearly five million mothers and children affected. Pressures are mounting: the closure of the border with Pakistan, repeated floods and earthquakes, and a steep drop in humanitarian funding. The crisis is compounded by spillover from the Middle East conflict. Soaring global fuel prices and disrupted supply routes are pushing WFP’s severely underfunded operations in Afghanistan to the brink, leaving thousands of mothers and children without the life-saving support they urgently need. “We are also seeing vulnerable families crossing the border from Pakistan in growing numbers; many of them coming to a country where they know no one, have no place to go and have no idea where their next meal will come from,” said Skau, who visited the Torkham crossing point at the Pakistan border. “I met single mothers and families with young babies — all of whom crossed with nothing more than what they can carry. They need food, shelter, safe...

Original source: Relief Web