World Bank report paint catastrophic food crisis in Afghanistan

Kabul. Afghanistan is one of the seven countries said to face a catastrophic level of food crisis, according to a World Bank highlighted report, news agencies reported.

According to the report, the other food crisis-hit countries are Burkina Faso, Haiti, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.

The number of people experiencing food crises in these countries is the highest since the Global Report on Food Crises started reporting data in 2017.

Meanwhile, UNICEF has also warned that it is facing a lack of critical food aid in Afghanistan due to a shortage of funding, amidst a widespread humanitarian crisis in the country.

Melanie Galvin, chief of nutrition at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in a video message on Twitter, said that thousands of vulnerable children could die from severe malnutrition in Afghanistan this year alone.

Galvin further added the global food organization faces an urgent funding gap of USD 21 million to buy essential supplies for treating malnutrition and training health workers around the country.

The organization also faces a shortage of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), she said. RUTF is considered an essential ready-made food supplement that can cure children suffering from malnutrition, according to Khaama Press in Afghanistan.

Years of conflict, poverty, and the broken and donation-based economy have forced ordinary people to suffer acute hunger and food shortage.

UNICEF noted Afghanistan is home to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. More than 28 million people, including over 15 million children, need humanitarian and protection assistance this year, a staggering increase of 4 million people over 2022.

Since the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the economy has failed to recover, keeping millions of people on the verge of starvation.