According to UNICEF, over 1.5 million children have already been affected by malnutrition in Afghanistan. The organization warned about the remergence of a new wave of the malady.

‘Across Afghanistan today, millions of children are in desperate need for health and nutrition services … around 14 million people in Afghanistan are food insecure today, among them around 3.5 million children, whom, we expect will suffer from acute malnutrition, within them around one million children …,’ said Salam Al-Janabi, communication specialist for UNICEF in Afghanistan.

Officials at the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital said that many malnutrition treatment centers had been closed in Afghanistan as health facilities face a shortage of medical supplies.

Dr. Farid Ahmad Andishmand said: ‘What the people say is that they can’t properly earn even one meals a day, and the lack of good and healthy food causes malnutrition. If it continues like this, the country will have a health crisis.’

Health officials voiced concerns over the suspension of international donations to the Afghan health sector.

pgh/Pll/mgt / abm