Around 10 million children across Afghanistan need humanitarian aid: UNICEF

Afghanistan requires humanitarian assistance to survive the current crisis. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has recently issued a report, which suggests that over 10 million children across Afghanistan require humanitarian assistance. These concerns have emerged as the Taliban has seized control of most of the country, and the situation for women and children becomes grave.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore, in a recent statement, said, “Today, around 10 million children across Afghanistan need humanitarian assistance to survive. An estimated 1 million children are projected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition over the course of this year and could die without treatment.”

The executive director further added that as per estimations, over 4.2 million children in Afghanistan are currently out of school, which includes over 2.2 million girls. UNICEF has emphasized that the children in Afghanistan need immediate help, as the crisis in the country in worsening each day.

Fore further added that since January, the United Nations has observed over 2,000 grave violations of children’s rights, with over 435,000 women and children internally displaced in the country. UNICEF has also predicted that this situation will only get worse in the coming months.

“This is the grim reality facing Afghan children and it remains so regardless of ongoing political developments and changes in government,” Fore said. The UN agency has also anticipated that the number of violations and displacements will grow in the future due to the drought and water scarcity in the area, along with the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The executive director said, “That is why, after 65 years in Afghanistan striving to improve the lives of children and women, UNICEF will remain on the ground now and in the days to come. We are deeply committed to the country's children and there is far more work to be done on their behalf.”

Due to the crisis in Afghanistan, essential services such as health, lifesaving vaccination drives against polio and measles, nutrition, protection, shelter, water and sanitation will be required by millions across the country, Fore said. 

“Right now, UNICEF is scaling up its lifesaving programmes for children and women - including through the delivery of health, nutrition and water services to displaced families. We hope to expand these operations to areas that could not previously be reached because of insecurity," she added. 

She has also urged the Taliban and other political parties in Afghanistan to give access to UNICEF and other humanitarian organizations who are stepping in to ensure the safety of the women in children who are currently suffering due to the crisis.

As the Taliban has seized control over Kabul, the situation in the country has become worrisome for many as citizens are crowding at the airports to flee their homeland. Other countries are also conducting rescue missions for their citizens stuck in Afghanistan, which has panicked the citizens even more in the past few days.