Afghanistan, “economy boosted and more funding made available”

A year since the Taliban came to power: malnutrition soars and children suffer; assets should be unfrozen, economy boosted and more funding made available to save lives

In the first six months of 2022, the Provincial Hospital in Afghanistan’s Zabul province saw a devastating 70% increase in the number of malnourished children it admitted for inpatient treatment compared to the same period last year – a clear indication of the catastrophic impact that the economic crisis, the freezing of Afghanistan’s assets and the suspension of development funding are having on some of the country’s most-vulnerable citizens, said the aid agency INTERSOS.

A year since the Taliban came to power, INTERSOS – which began supporting the nutrition ward in the Provincial Hospital to try and meet the growing needs of the population following the withdrawal of funding from the World Bank – is warning that if development funding does not return to Afghanistan, and if the economy is not given an urgent boost, the already overwhelmed health system will be brought to its knees, and the hunger crisis that is gripping the nation will bring even more children to death’s door.

Sergio Mainetti, Acting Country Director for INTERSOS in Afghanistan, said:

“The situation in Afghanistan is getting worse by the day and there is no clearer way to see this than through the desperate condition of the acutely malnourished children we are treating. Last month, we admitted close to 150 children for inpatient treatment on the nutrition ward in Zabul’s Provincial Hospital, and this week we’ve had up to 33 very sick children in our care there. However, there are only 15 available beds on the ward, which means the hospital is operating at over twice its capacity. To cope with this growing pressure, our nutrition team has had to put two, sometimes three, children in each bed to ensure they can receive the treatment that will save their lives – one very clear indication of how critical the situation has become.”

At the health clinic INTERSOS runs in Shah Joy District – one of the poorest, and most-remote parts of Zabul province – the severity of the situation is also evident. Over 50% of children the organisation screened for malnutrition in the first six months of the year were found to have acute malnutrition there, and April was the worst month on record, with 75% of children found to be acutely malnourished.

At the government-run hospital in the same district, the situation is similarly alarming: the nutrition ward saw a staggering 90% increase in the number of children admitted for severe acute malnutrition with complications in June compared to the same period last year. This facility has just 20 beds to treat cases of malnutrition with complications and, since it is the only other public health facility apart from the Provincial Hospital where children can receive inpatient treatment for malnutrition in Zabul, this means there are only 35 beds in the entire province to provide increasing numbers of children with the life-saving care they need.

“What we’re seeing in Zabul province is indicative of what is happening across Afghanistan,” Mainetti continued. “The economic crash that has happened as a result of the sanctions against the Taliban and the freezing of the country’s assets are having a devastating impact. People have lost their jobs, food prices have gone sky high and to add to their problems, the drought means that many people have lost their livelihoods as well. This all means that they simply cannot afford to feed their families, and in our clinics and the hospital we support, we are seeing first-hand the catastrophic impact that this is having on people’s lives. Malnutrition has always been a problem in Afghanistan, but we’ve never seen it on this scale before. There is an urgent need to scale-up the emergency response in Zabul and across the country to reach more people, prevent further hospitalisations and save lives.”

INTERSOS is urging donor countries to fully fund the UN appeal of $4.4 billion for Afghanistan to make it possible for humanitarian actors to meet the growing needs of the population. However, INTERSOS is also warning that humanitarian assistance alone cannot be a substitute for a functioning economy and is calling on the international community and the Taliban to find a way to work together as a matter of urgency to revive and stabilise it. One clear way to do this would be through returning Afghanistan’s frozen assets to the country’s central bank – Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) – and for the US and Polish governments to deliver to Afghanistan the printed afghani currency that was purchased and paid for by the previous government last year. These two measures would address the liquidity crisis and also make it possible for people to access their savings, for businesses to re-open, and for people to find work, earn an income and feed their families once again. Additionally, INTERSOS is calling for development funding to return to the country so that long-term assistance can be assured and all those in need of health care can get it at the time when they need it most.