One million children in Afghanistan are suffering from life-threatening malnutrition in a worsening crisis sweeping the country, the United Nations warned Tuesday.
Meanwhile, children under two years old make up more than 80 per cent of severe acute malnutrition cases in Afghanistan. In July 2025, around 6,000 severe acute malnutrition cases were admitted; in July this year, the numbers went above 8,000 — a third higher.
“If there is no treatment, and we are not able to act fast, that one million number is at risk of dying,” he told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Kabul. He described a “worsening nutrition crisis” across the country, with more than half a million children admitted to hospital so far this year for high-risk moderate and severe wasting. if survivors return home to the same conditions, “we frequently see those kind of children relapse and come back” While treatment for malnutrition can save lives. “We should not wait until a child is dangerously thin and lying in a hospital bed before we act,” Oyewale said.
