WFP Forced to Cut Food and Nutrition Program in Afghanistan due to Lack of Funds

WFP facilities in Afghanistan. (Wikimedia Commons/Ninaras)

JAKARTA - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday warned that a lack of funds was forcing them to reduce food and nutrition programmes crucial to survival in Afghanistan, amid a critical level of child malnutrition.

In a statement, the agency said that one-third of children in Afghanistan are critically malnourished, with conditions expected to worsen by October.

Twelve provinces have reached the critical threshold, signaling an urgent need for life-saving treatment.

"Without urgent support, WFP and its partners will not be able to prevent more children from suffering from severe malnutrition that endangers their lives in the coming months," they warned, as reported by Anadolu (5/8).

The Director of WFP for Afghanistan, John Aylieff, said in the statement, the cries of babies suffering from malnutrition continue to be heard in various health facilities in Afghanistan.

"We are witnessing a generation of successors whose bodies are shrinking and weakening, even though this is the harvest season - a time of abundance. This is not only heartbreaking - but also unacceptable," he said.

The WFP said nearly 3.7 million children in Afghanistan are estimated to suffer from acute malnutrition, while another 1.2 million pregnant and lactating women are also estimated to be malnourished.

The agency said that conflict, unemployment, high food prices, and declining humanitarian funding had triggered the crisis.

They added that supply disruptions due to the conflict in the Middle East and the closure of the Pakistani border for nine months had led to nearly one million malnourished mothers and children not receiving essential nutrition services for five months.

In addition, it was also mentioned that in 2025, as many as 142 health centers throughout the country were closed and more than 13,000 children no longer received nutritional care due to reduced humanitarian assistance.

WFP said it urgently needed $540 million in the next six months to maintain malnutrition treatment and prevention services.