1.1 million Afghan children could face severe malnutrition

Like many Afghans, she uses only one name.UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency, said 1.1 million children this year are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition, also known as severe wasting, nearly double the number in 2018 and up from just under 1 million last year.Severe wasting is the most lethal type of malnutrition, in which food is so lacking that a child’s immune system is compromised, according to UNICEF. As the economy continues to crumble and prices mount, that could rise this year to as high as 97% of the population by mid-2022, according to the U.N. Development Program.Because of poverty, “mothers do not have proper nutrition during pregnancy, and are not able to eat properly after birth, said Mohammad Sharif, a doctor at Charakar hospital.At the Mirwais Hospital in southern Kandahar province, 1,100 children with malnutrition have been admitted in the past six months, 30 of whom died, said Dr. Mohammad Sediq, head of the children’s ward.One mother, Kobra, said she had been unable to breastfeed her 6-month-old child. Melanie Galvin, chief of UNICEF’s nutrition program in Afghanistan, said the 1.1 million children figure came from the agency’s annual assessment, conducted last fall and based on expected conditions.“Every year, all the factors connected to malnutrition keep going up,” she told the AP.