Senior UN officials visit Kabul; raise concern over plight of children

High-ranking United Nations officials, who visited Kabul, have expressed concern about the situation of malnourished children in Afghanistan.

Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator warned during his visit to Afghanistan that many of these children could die.

In a series of tweets, Griffiths, highlighted the situation and said: “I began my visit to Afghanistan at the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital in Kabul. I struggle to put into words how profoundly affected I was by the plight of the babies I met. Tiny, listless newborns, two to an incubator, suffering from acute malnutrition.”

The Ministry of Public Health acknowledges that the rate of malnutrition is high and that acute malnutrition of children has been recorded in 28 provinces, with a total of 3.5 million children in Afghanistan in dire need of food assistance.

“Yes, in 2022, the number of people suffering from malnutrition has increased, and along with the problems of poverty, misery, measles, etc., it leads to malnutrition,” said Javid Hazhir, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health.

Malnutrition is the worst enemy of children’s health. Doctors also say that the main reason for malnutrition is poverty, lack of food security along with fatal diseases such as persistent diarrhea and cold also cause malnutrition.

“Poverty is one of the main causes of malnutrition in Afghanistan. Our people get this disease from misery and lack of food,” said Haseb Ahmadzai Wardak, head of Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital in Kabul.