Pneumonia cases soaring, killing children in Afghanistan: UK-based NGO

UK-based international NGO "Save the Children" on Monday said that Pneumonia cases in Afghanistan are soaring, killing children who are unable to access healthcare facilities, Anadolu agency reported.

"Child pneumonia is surging in the middle of a hunger crisis that is ravaging young immune systems," Anadolu agency quoted the Save the Children's statement.

"The collapse of the health system, driven largely by frozen financial assets and withdrawn aid, comes at a deadly cost for Afghan children," read the statement.

One doctor at a hospital told the non-profit he had never seen so many cases of child pneumonia and severe malnutrition. According to the medical professional, 135 children had died in or on their way to the hospital last December, the Anadolu agency reported.

"Afghanistan's economic freefall threatens to leave more than 95 per cent of the population living in poverty," the statement said, adding that cost is the "biggest single barrier" to healthcare.

"Clinics across the country have been forced to close as wages for health workers have dried up," it said, adding "Crumbling health services is one of the direct impacts of global assets freezes and suspended development aid, both of which are choking the healthcare system," Anadolu agency reported.

It further reported that the aid agency called on the international community to unlock vital funding. Following the Taliban's takeover, Afghanistan's access to international funds was cut off.

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated drastically since the Taliban took control of Kabul.

A combination of a suspension of foreign aid, the freezing of Afghan government assets, and international sanctions on the Taliban, have plunged the country, already suffering from high poverty levels, into a full-blown economic crisis.

( With inputs from ANI )

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