In Kabul’s main children’s hospital, 2-year-old Guldana is sitting up in her bed, but she’s too exhausted to even open her eyes. Her tiny body is wrapped in a blanket, only her emaciated face showing.
She’s one of a growing number of near-starving children who are brought every day to the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital in the Afghan capital.
Hunger is increasing dramatically in Afghanistan, fuelled by an economic crisis that has only gotten worse since the Taliban seized power in the country nearly three months ago.
The U.N.’s World Food Programme said Monday that the number of people on the edge of famine has risen to 45 million in 43 countries. The number is up from 42 million earlier this year.
Afghanistan is the source of most of that increase. The number of Afghans living in near-famine conditions has risen to 8.7 million, up by 3 million from earlier this year, the WFP said.
Overall, almost 24 million people in Afghanistan, or 60% of the population, suffer from acute hunger.
An estimated 3.2 million children under age 5 are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of the year.
“It’s a crisis. It’s a catastrophe,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said during a weekend visit to Afghanistan.
The WFP is rushing in supplies to feed people as the harsh winter sets in, but it says it needs some $220 million a month in 2022 to fund its effort.