The number of people facing severe levels of hunger in Afghanistan has increased to 6.6 million, Save the Children said in a report released Thursday.

In 2019, the number of Afghans with severe levels of hunger was 2.5 million, but it reached 6.6 million in 2022.

According to the report, the number of people facing severe levels of hunger has surged by almost 57% to 25.3 million from 16.1 million since 2019 in the eight worst affected countries amid an unprecedented global hunger crisis with increasing pockets of famine-like conditions.

The worst affected countries are Afghanistan, Central African Republic, DRC, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Yemen. Afghanistan has the highest number of people facing severe levels of hunger.

“In Afghanistan we are finding that children are so hungry that they are unable to remember what they have learnt at school. As a result of malnutrition, they are also more susceptible to life threatening diseases such as cholera,” Save the Children’s acting country director in Afghanistan, Nora Hassanein, said.

“We are also seeing a worrying increase in damaging coping mechanisms such as child marriage and child labour. Responding to this rising need is impossible without the full participation of women in the response, and we’re extremely worried about these findings in the context of the current suspension of programmes.”