The United Nations along with the United Kingdom, Germany and Qatar will host an international pledging conference in Afghanistan on March 31, in support of the humanitarian response, local media reported.
People in Afghanistan facing food insecurity and malnutrition crisis and those experiencing acute hunger will touch 23 Million in March 2022, TOLO News reported citing the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' statement.
According to the UN agency, in July 2021, the number of people suffering from acute hunger was 14 million, adding that 95 per cent of the population are not eating enough and this percentage is touching almost 100 in female-headed households.
"I urge the Member States to dig deep for the people of Afghanistan at this time and to continue their generous support for the life-saving efforts," Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative, Ramiz Alakbarov was quoted as saying by TOLOnews.
"It is a figure so high that it is almost inconceivable. Yet, devastatingly, it is the harsh reality," Alakbarov said.
Alakbarov painted a picture of hospital wards filled with malnourished children, many weighing at age one what an infant of six months would weigh in a developed country, with some "so weak that they are unable to move".
Acute malnutrition rates in 28 out of 34 provinces are high with more than 3.5 million children in need of nutrition treatment support, said Alakbarov.
He explained that since mid-August, over 2,500 nutrition treatment sites across all 34 provinces, both urban and rural, have been serving 800,000 acutely malnourished children, "and we plan to reach 3.2 million affected children this year".
"We also aim to reach one million people through vocational skills training, one million children through school feeding, and millions more people both directly and indirectly through programmes that will protect and boost the agricultural livelihoods upon which so much of the population depends," Alakbarov added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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