Afghanistan food crisis
More than 1 million Afghan children are at risk of going hungry following poor harvests that mean families don’t have enough food to last through the winter. Help us get aid to them. Please donate now.
It’s essential we deliver relief to families before the onset of the harsh Afghan winter. There’s a huge shortfall in funds. Only 7% of the money the UN thinks is needed to help see families through the winter is currently available.
Please help us feed the children of Afghanistan by supporting our emergency fund: Donate now
Photo: REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail courtesy of AlertNet
Why is this happening?
How are children affected?
- To survive, families are cutting down on meals, meaning children are going hungry and are more susceptible to illness.
- The drought has also means that children are at risk of disease from drinking unsafe water.
- Schools have closed as children are being put out to work as families have taken on debt to buy food.
“Families are facing being cut off for winter without enough food and clean water,” says David Skinner, our Afghanistan country director
“We know children are going hungry, and with malnutrition levels already high in Afghanistan, unless aid efforts are ramped up, children could die because they do not get enough to eat.”
What is Save the Children doing?
We are urgently stockpiling aid, and also beginning to provide emergency support to 4.410 households reaching more than 30,000 people.
This support provides them with cash to buy food and other essential items. In return the men work for us to rebuild roads, community centres, reservoirs and walls – all essential to help communities cope with, and recover from, the drought and severe winter.
We are supporting hospitals treating malnourished children, and have already helped hundreds of children – we expect this number to increase.
We urgently need to expand our response in the weeks ahead to cope with the crisis.
We need your support to do that. Please donate now