Kabul, Nov 21 (IANS) The World Food Programme (WFP) has said that 3.5 million children in Afghanistan face severe malnutrition due to shrinking aid operations and warned that the country’s worsening humanitarian conditions are leaving millions at risk, the local media reported on Friday.
In a statement shared on X, WFP stated that they are working to support Afghan children through food-assistance programmes despite facing operational challenges, Afghanistan’s leading news agency Khaama Press reported.
WFP said it is distributing school meals to improve development of children, with a goal to keep vulnerable students in classrooms amid deepening economic pressure. The agency further said that it provides nutritional services at health centres in Afghanistan to reduce malnutrition, particularly among young children and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers.
The agency noted that it had previously warned that Afghan women were losing their children due to malnutrition and warned that the onset of winter would further worsen inadequate food access. Many international organisations have reduced or suspended their operations in Afghanistan due to interference by the authorities and restrictions on women’s development.
Earlier this month, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that one in every five children in Afghanistan is involved in child labour, Afghanistan-based Tolo News reported.
UNICEF spokesperson in Afghanistan, Omidurrahman Fazel, stated, “Regardless of the reason, UNICEF is committed to ending all forms of child labour in any shape or form. Therefore, UNICEF emphasises family-based solutions to this issue.”
Suhel, a child labour, stated, “Some days when I come to look for work, there is nothing, so I have to skip school and work instead. If I go to school, I can’t work. This job has no future, but school does.”
Another child labourer, Ali Dad, said that he wanted to go to school, however, he could not do it due to poverty.
–IANS
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