UNICEF: More than 100 malnutrition treatment centers in Afghanistan closed due to lack of funds

Afghanistan's UNICEF representative said on Monday that one million children in the country are struggling with the most severe form of life-threatening malnutrition and will die if not treated immediately.

 

UNICEF Afghanistan Representative Tajuddin Owale said at a meeting in Geneva on Tuesday (August 25th) that 3.7 million children across Afghanistan are currently suffering from severe malnutrition. He noted that nearly 40 percent of children hospitalized for severe malnutrition are under six months old, adding that the closure of these centers has made it more difficult for children with access to essential nutritional services.

 

Afghanistan's hospitals are facing unprecedented pressure, Owale said. Since the beginning of this year, more than half a million children have been hospitalized for moderate-to-high-risk obesity and severe obesity. The number of children hospitalized with medical complications from severe malnutrition has increased by a third compared to the same period last year, from 6,000 in July 2025 to 8,000 in July 2026. In some parts of southern Afghanistan, three to four severely malnourished children are hospitalized for every empty bed.

 

UNICEF has cited poverty, successive droughts, severe floods, the return of millions of refugees to Afghanistan and cuts in humanitarian aid budgets as the main factors exacerbating the crisis. According to Owale, Afghanistan's nutrition sector is facing a 57 percent budget shortfall and the organization has called for immediate action and sustainable funding increases to prevent the spread of the humanitarian catastrophe.