Over 644,000 Afghan children under five years of age have been treated for acute diarrhea since late 2025 as heat, floods, earthquakes and unsafe water drive a sharp seasonal surge, overwhelming hospitals and raising fears for young lives.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health has reported that more than 644,000 children under the age of five received treatment for acute diarrhea between late December 2025 and the end of June 2026. The figure marks a clear rise over the previous year and underscores the heavy toll seasonal diseases continue to exact on the country’s youngest and most vulnerable citizens.

According to ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil, the increase stems from a combination of earthquakes, flood-related displacement, and widespread shortages of safe drinking water and food. “The number of acute diarrhea cases is higher this year than last year,” Amarkhil said. “The reasons include earthquakes, displacement caused by floods, and the lack of safe water and food.”

Families Struggle as Temperatures Climb

In Kabul, the human cost is visible daily at the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital, the country’s largest pediatric facility. Officials there say between 150 and 200 children with diarrhea arrive every day as temperatures rise. One-year-old Muzamil, the youngest child of Mah Gul, spent five days battling acute diarrhea and vomiting. Treatment was unavailable in their home district of Nijrab, forcing the family to travel to the capital.

“When the weather became very hot, my child fell ill,” Mah Gul recounted. “I took him to several doctors and got medicine, but it did not help. Because of the diarrhea and vomiting, he became very weak, so I brought him to this hospital, where he was admitted.”

Nearby, Gol Bibi described a similar ordeal with her daughter. “My daughter has been sick for four days. She developed diarrhea after the weather became hot.”

Mohammad Arif Hasanzai, head of the hospital’s internal medicine department, explained how staff triage the influx. Patients in good condition receive prescriptions and are sent home. Those with moderate symptoms undergo further checks. Children showing severe dehydration or serious complications are admitted for inpatient care.

Doctors have issued straightforward advice to parents. Dr. Habib Shah Azimi urged mothers to avoid leftover food, prepare fresh meals, and ensure children drink plenty of fluids in the hot season. Without access to clean water, proper hygiene, and timely medical attention, they warn, a treatable illness can quickly become life-threatening for young children.

Broader Patterns Across the Country

The national numbers align with wider surveillance data. UNICEF reported nearly 300,000 cases of acute diarrheal disease in the first months of 2026, even as acute respiratory infections declined. The World Health Organisation recorded 18,232 cases of acute watery diarrhea with dehydration and 14 related deaths in June alone – a 33.6 per cent increase from the previous month. Cumulative figures for the year show Afghanistan accounting for a large share of acute watery diarrhea and cholera-related cases in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Acute watery diarrhea remains endemic. Cases typically climb with the onset of summer heat, when contaminated water sources and poor sanitation create ideal conditions for transmission. Earthquakes and floods have compounded the problem by damaging water infrastructure and displacing families into crowded, underserved areas. In eastern provinces hit by seismic activity in late 2025, UNICEF warned that more than 212,000 children faced heightened risk of waterborne disease after wells and latrines were destroyed.

Malnutrition further elevates the danger. Projections for 2026 estimate that 3.7 million children aged 6 to 59 months will suffer acute malnutrition, with roughly a quarter of them experiencing the severe form. Disease and undernutrition reinforce each other: diarrhea depletes nutrients and fluids, while malnourished children have weaker immune responses and higher mortality risk. Studies based on earlier national surveys have shown diarrhea prevalence among under-fives running as high as 38 per cent in recent years, with the highest rates concentrated among the poorest households and in southern and eastern regions.

Hospitals Under Pressure and Prevention Gaps

Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital has long served as a barometer of pediatric health in Afghanistan. Past summers have produced similar spikes in diarrhea, pneumonia, and other seasonal illnesses. Staff repeatedly cite extreme heat, unsafe food and water, limited hygiene awareness, and poverty as drivers. In earlier heatwaves, daily outpatient numbers climbed into the hundreds, with dozens of children requiring admission.

Access to care remains uneven. Rural families often travel long distances after local facilities prove unable to manage severe cases. Funding constraints have reduced the reach of mobile health and nutrition teams in some areas, delaying early detection and treatment. At the same time, health workers continue to distribute oral rehydration salts, zinc, and hygiene messaging. UNICEF and partners have trained thousands of community health workers, prepositioned supplies, and reached more than a million people with prevention messages focused on handwashing, safe water storage, and prompt care-seeking.

Water scarcity itself has become a structural challenge. In Kabul and many provinces, aquifers are declining, wells run dry, and families rely on distant or contaminated sources. Climate-driven drought and heatwaves intensify the pressure. When safe water is scarce, the risk of fecal-oral transmission of pathogens rises sharply. Open defecation, still practiced in many communities, further contaminates the environment.

Calls for Sustained Action

Public health officials and doctors emphasise that most childhood diarrhea deaths are preventable with basic measures: clean water, sanitation, handwashing with soap, exclusive breastfeeding in early months, proper weaning practices, and rapid access to oral rehydration therapy. Zinc supplementation and continued feeding during illness also reduce severity and duration.

Yet the scale of need remains large. Afghanistan’s health system continues to operate under severe constraints, with high disease burdens, limited resources, and recurring natural disasters. The Ministry of Public Health and international partners maintain surveillance and response systems, but sustained investment in water and sanitation infrastructure, nutrition programmes, and primary health services will be essential to reduce the annual summer peak.

For families like Mah Gul’s, the immediate priority is simple: keeping children hydrated, seeking care early, and protecting them from contaminated food and water. As temperatures remain high and displacement continues, health workers warn that the current caseload of more than 644,000 treated children is unlikely to be the final total for the season. Timely community action and strengthened health services will determine how many more young lives are placed at risk before cooler weather arrives, health workers say.