According to the United Nations, more than 24 million people in Afghanistan require lifesaving assistance, a 30 percent increase since 2021.

The United Nations announced on Friday, February 26, that over 24 million people in Afghanistan require lifesaving assistance, a 30 percent increase since 2021. At a press conference, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric stated that a group of eight senior emergency experts from UN agencies and international non-governmental organizations had been called for a five-day mission to Afghanistan to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance.

According to the UN, more than 24 million Afghans, or 59 percent of the country's population, require lifesaving assistance. Notably, this represents a whopping 30 percent increase since 2021. According to a UN spokesperson, this year's Afghanistan humanitarian response plan is the most significant humanitarian appeal ever launched for a single country, requesting $4.44 billion in aid for over 22 million people. Yet, according to reports, only 13% of this has been funded.

Catherine Russell, the head of UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), recently returned from a three-day trip to Afghanistan, where she observed children begging on the streets of Kabul. 

Afghanistan's Taliban takeover in mid-August has resulted in economic chaos and a dire humanitarian crisis. Afghanistan's economy has been collapsing, resulting in mass starvation and a massive and destabilizing new wave of refugees, as well as a clear need for extensive spending on humanitarian relief.

UNICEF's presence in Afghanistan

According to UNICEF, Afghanistan has one of the world's highest stunting rates in children under the age of five, at 41 percent. In addition, one in every three adolescent girls is anemic, and only half of the Afghan babies are solely breastfed during their first six months.

It should be noted that only 12% of Afghan children aged 6-24 months receive the appropriate variety of food in sufficient quantity.