The stepmother of Mohammed, 4 months old, who is malnourished, holds his legs in the Indira Gandhi hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Nov 8, 2021. The number of people living in Afghanistan in near-famine conditions has risen to 8.7 million according to the World Food Program. (BRAM JANSSEN / AP)
GENEVA – Around 3.2 million children are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition in Afghanistan by the end of this year, with 1 million of them at risk of dying as temperatures drop, a World Health Organization spokesperson said on Friday.
Aid agencies have warned of famine as a drought coincides with a failing economy following the withdrawal of Western financial support in the aftermath of a Taliban takeover in August. The health sector has been hit especially hard, with many healthcare workers fleeing due to unpaid salaries.
READ MORE: UN agency warns of food crisis as Afghanistan verges on collapse
The world must not and cannot afford to turn its back on Afghanistan.
Margaret Harris, Spokesperson, World Health Organization
"It's an uphill battle as starvation grips the country," Margaret Harris told Geneva-based journalists by telephone from the capital Kabul.
"The world must not and cannot afford to turn its back on Afghanistan."
Nighttime temperatures are falling below zero degrees Celsius and colder temperatures are expected to make the old and the young more susceptible to other diseases, Harris said. In some places, people are chopping down trees to provide fuel for the hospitals amid widespread shortages, she added.
Harris did not have numbers for the number of children who had already died from malnutrition but described "wards filled with tiny little children", including with a seven-month old baby whom she described as "smaller than a newborn".
Guldana, 2 years old, who is malnourished, sits on a hospital bed in the Indira Gandhi hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Nov 8, 2021. (BRAM JANSSEN / AP)
Measles cases are rising in the country and WHO data shows 24,000 clinical cases had so far been reported.
"For malnourished children, measles is a death sentence. We will see so many more deaths if we don't move on this quickly," Harris said.