Malnutrition is surging across more than half of Afghanistan’s communities as soaring food prices, deepening poverty and sharp cuts in humanitarian aid push millions closer to hunger, a new UN-backed nationwide assessment has revealed.

A United Nations-backed assessment has found that malnutrition is rising in 53 per cent of surveyed communities across Afghanistan, with cases doubling in nearly half of those areas over just three months. 

The findings paint a stark picture of a country where economic collapse, climate shocks and dwindling international funding are driving households into deeper desperation.

Nationwide Assessment Reveals Widespread Rise

The Humanitarian Situation Monitoring (HSM) report, conducted by REACH – a UN-supported initiative – between 10 May and 7 June 2026, surveyed 12,854 key informants in all 401 districts of Afghanistan. It found that 53 per cent of communities reported an increase in malnutrition cases identified by health workers or clinics. Among those communities, 44 per cent said the number of cases had doubled in the previous three months.

The sharpest rises were recorded in Panjshir (89 per cent), Faryab (85 per cent) and Laghman (83 per cent). The report estimates that 21.9 million people – nearly 45 per cent of Afghanistan’s population – require humanitarian assistance.

Food insecurity is described as a serious or very serious problem in 65 per cent of communities. In 25 per cent of areas, most residents had not had enough food in the previous month. Children are particularly affected: in 60 per cent of communities, key informants reported that youngsters were working because families lacked sufficient food or money.

Food Prices Soar and Households Exhaust Assets

Rising costs are at the heart of the crisis. According to the assessment, 55 per cent of communities said food prices had increased significantly in the previous 30 days, while 63 per cent reported major and sudden price spikes in local markets. In response, 87 per cent of communities said households were selling livestock more than usual due to insufficient income or food – clear evidence that families are liquidating their last remaining assets to survive.

Economic hardship remains the dominant driver of displacement. Eighty per cent of communities identified financial difficulties as the primary reason people left their homes, followed by unemployment and poverty (79 per cent) and food shortages (75 per cent). Drought, limited access to basic services, conflict and flooding were also cited, though to a lesser extent.

Returnees and Floods Compound Pressure

Half of all surveyed communities reported receiving Afghan returnees from Iran and Pakistan. Yet 57 per cent said these newly arrived families had not received any humanitarian assistance. Large-scale returns have placed additional strain on already fragile host communities.

Recent flooding has further worsened conditions. Fifteen per cent of communities reported severe damage to homes, particularly in eastern and northern provinces. The heaviest impacts were felt in Uruzgan, Samangan and Baghlan, where flooding displaced residents and damaged livelihoods.

Healthcare Access Collapses

Healthcare barriers are compounding the malnutrition crisis. Seventy-seven per cent of communities cited shortages of medicines and medical equipment as the biggest obstacle, while 59 per cent said treatment had become unaffordable. More than half reported shortages of specialised medical staff. Seventeen per cent said women could not safely or easily reach health facilities because of long distances or travel restrictions.

Humanitarian assistance itself has declined sharply. Only 29 per cent of surveyed communities reported receiving any aid in the previous three months – down from 37 per cent in March. Food assistance remains the most common form of support, yet 22 per cent of communities said people did not know how to access help if they needed it.

Broader Context of a Worsening Crisis

The HSM findings align with multiple concurrent alerts from humanitarian agencies. A Nutrition Situation Alert issued in June 2026 by the Nutrition Cluster warned that wasting levels had worsened across 26 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces compared with 2025 – before the traditional peak wasting season of July to September. Twelve provinces are now experiencing critical levels of acute child malnutrition, the highest number ever recorded: Helmand, Daykundi, Zabul, Baghlan, Urozgan, Paktika, Nuristan, Sar-e-Pul, Ghor, Kandahar, Faryab and Logar.

Projections for 2026 estimate that 3.7 million children under five will suffer acute malnutrition, including 942,000 severe cases. An additional 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are expected to be affected. Children under two years account for 83 per cent of severe acute malnutrition cases and 77 per cent of moderate cases. Nearly 40 per cent of infants under six months admitted for inpatient treatment have severe wasting with medical complications.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that admissions of severely malnourished children with complications at its centres in Helmand and Kandahar were more than 30 per cent higher between January and April 2026 than in the same period over the previous three years. In Helmand, more than 1,500 children were admitted in those four months – more than double the figure for 2022.

The World Food Programme has warned that nearly one-third of the population – 13.8 million people – face acute food insecurity. Due to funding shortfalls, WFP can currently reach only about two million people per month with food assistance. The agency requires US$540 million through January 2027 to continue life-saving food and nutrition programmes.

Funding Shortfalls Cripple Response

The 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan requested US$1.71 billion to assist 17.5 million people. By mid-year, only a fraction of that funding had been received. OCHA has described the situation as “very alarming,” noting that childhood wasting has worsened across three-quarters of the country. Humanitarian partners reached far fewer people in the first half of 2026 than in the previous year, with nutrition programmes particularly hard hit.

Aid agencies warn that without urgent additional support, food insecurity and malnutrition will continue to deteriorate. Rising food prices, recurring climate shocks, mass returns of migrants, and the erosion of household coping mechanisms are creating a perfect storm. Families are already resorting to extreme measures – selling productive assets, sending children to work, and in some reported cases, making desperate choices simply to survive.

Outlook Remains Bleak Without Action

Despite the absence of large-scale nationwide conflict, Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis is intensifying. The HSM report and parallel assessments from WFP, UNICEF, the Nutrition Cluster and MSF all point to the same conclusion: the combination of economic hardship, climate vulnerability and collapsing aid is pushing millions of Afghans – especially young children – into life-threatening malnutrition.

Humanitarian organisations emphasise that timely funding and sustained access are essential to reverse the trend. Without it, the peak wasting season already underway risks claiming more lives and leaving a generation of Afghan children with irreversible consequences.