Hunger and nutrition

Combined, malaria and malnutrition constitute a “double health burden” that traps the most vulnerable – especially children under five years of age – in a deadly cycle.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has sounded a dire warning about Afghanistan’s escalating hunger crisis, as an economic downturn, recurring droughts, and the forced return of thousands of Afghan migrants strain the country’s fragile infrastructure and limited resources.

UNICEF also called for more humanitarian aid and commercial traffic to come in to stabilise the situation and reduce the desperation of the population.

WHO’s joint report with UNICEF on global immunization revealed that although vaccine coverage has modestly improved.

The MoU, inked by Bangladesh’s DG Food Md Abul Hasanat Humayun Kabir and Joseph K. Sowers from US Wheat Associates, underscores a deepening partnership in food and trade.

The report says that the COVID-19 pandemic is a profound global example of the inequitable health outcomes driven by upstream social determinants. From its outset, socio-economic inequality was a predictor of higher mortality.

With reduced aid, already fragile services are deteriorating, and local efforts to compensate remain insufficient.

The situation in Afghanistan is dire, with children under five suffering the most. Health experts, international aid organisations, and the government are carving ways to work together to prevent further loss of life.