ReliefWeb

CRISIS IN NUMBERS

• 24.4 million people, including 13 million children need humanitarian assistance (HRP 2022)

• 19.7 million people (9.6 million children), are facing acute food insecurity between March and May (March-November 2022-IPC)

• 18.9 million people (9.2 million children) are projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity between June and November 2022. (March-November 2022-IPC)

• 1.1 million children under five are acutely malnourished (HRP 2022)

• 5.8 million internally displaced people and returnees remain in some form of displacement – close to 700,0000 people were internally displaced in 2021. (IOM and March-November 2022-IPC)

• 850,000 out of 1.1 million female students are not attending classes due to the ban on secondary school girls attending school (Save the Children & UNICEF)

• 8 million children need support to access education in Afghanistan (HRP 2022)

• 4.5 million children are in need mental health and psychosocial support - (UNICEF)

SITUATION UPDATES

• The overall security situation across Afghanistan, including Save the Children impact areas, is challenging. Armed conflict continues in Panjsher, Baghlan, Takhar and Badakhshan provinces, and for the first time after the takeover, armed conflict occurred in Samangan province.

• The World Bank says incomes are likely to have fallen by around a third in the last months of 2021. Across the country four out of five people (83%) are unemployed. In some provinces, unemployment rates are as high as 95%.

• Living costs and food prices have skyrocketed over the last several months, with a kilogram of wheat now costing almost 55% more compared to June 2021.

• Even before the fall of the previous government the impacts of drought, COVID-19 and ongoing conflict had already left millions facing severe hunger across the country. But since August 2021, financial collapse triggered by global economic sanctions and international funding cuts has driven hunger to unprecedented levels. Many families are surviving only on stale bread that they soften with water and eat.

• The health system is collapsing at a time when children and their families need support the most. As well as soaring rates of hunger and malnutrition, Afghanistan is also contending with four major disease outbreaks: dengue fever, COVID-19, acute watery diarrhoea and measles. Measles is of particular concern with the number of cases having increased almost five-folds since the end of last year. Since the outbreak started, more than 54,386 cases have been detected and more 321 deaths since Jan-2022.

• On 22 June 2022, the deadliest earthquake to hit Afghanistan in two decades struck at a depth of 10km in the country’s south-east in the early hours while most people were asleep. It’s estimated more than 1,000 children and adults have lost their lives and approximately 1,600 people have been injured.