OCHA Warns of Worsening Hunger and Malnutrition in Southern Afghanistan

Humanitarian conditions are deteriorating rapidly in southern Afghanistan, where health facilities are facing growing pressure from severe malnutrition as poverty and hunger deepen, the United Nations has warned.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday that hospitals and health centres across the region were reporting overcrowded wards and a rising number of admissions of people suffering from severe malnutrition. The agency warned that families were confronting multiple overlapping crises while the resources available to humanitarian organisations continued to decline.

The warning comes amid broader concerns about Afghanistan’s worsening food security. A joint assessment by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), published in October, estimated that 19.2 million people roughly 38 percent of the population could face acute food insecurity during the winter months from November to April. The agencies also warned that around four million children could suffer from acute malnutrition in 2027, including nearly 1.1 million facing severe, potentially life-threatening cases.

The crisis is particularly acute in parts of southern Afghanistan. In June, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported a sharp rise in admissions of severely malnourished children at treatment centres it supports in Helmand and Kandahar provinces. Admissions at its Helmand centre reached a monthly record high during the first months of 2026, underscoring the scale of the emergency in a region already burdened by conflict, displacement, and limited access to basic services.

UNICEF has also warned that hospitals are struggling to accommodate severely malnourished children. In August, the agency said some hospitals in southern Afghanistan were treating three or four severely malnourished children for every available bed, forcing medical staff to make impossible choices and stretching already fragile health infrastructure to its limits.

Humanitarian agencies say a combination of poverty, limited employment opportunities, high food prices, and repeated climate-related shocks including droughts and floods — is worsening household food insecurity. Declining international assistance has further weakened the response at a time when needs are increasing, leaving aid organisations unable to reach many of those most in need.

OCHA has warned that many vulnerable families are struggling to meet basic needs, while reduced funding is limiting the number of people who can receive assistance. Humanitarian organisations have called for sustained support to provide emergency food, nutrition treatment, and longer-term livelihood assistance, stressing that without urgent and predictable funding, the crisis will deepen further as winter sets in.

Afghanistan continues to face one of the world’s major humanitarian crises, with millions of people at risk of hunger and children particularly vulnerable to the effects of inadequate food and limited access to healthcare. Aid agencies warn that the coming months will be critical, and that the international community must act now to prevent a further deterioration of an already dire situation.