Afghanistan is at a critical juncture in its fight against child and women malnutrition. The UN Joint Strategic Call to Action on Nutrition advocates for urgent, multisectoral, and tailored activities to tackle all forms of malnutrition and prevent further harm to the most vulnerable children and women. Immediate action, backed by global, national, and community-level support, is essential to save lives and mitigate the devastating impact of this ongoing crisis.

Afghanistan ranks among the top 15 countries with the highest rates of child wasting. Today, over 3.5 million children under five in Afghanistan are acutely malnourished including 1.4 million suffering from life-threatening forms. Meanwhile, four in every 10 women are undernourished and too often overlooked in the response.

High levels of food insecurity, driven mainly by a fragile economy and environmental disaster like drought, puts 9.8 million people into acute food insecurity, while nine out of every 10 young children in Afghanistan live in child food poverty (around 2.1 million children). These children lack access to the variety of foods essential for their growth and development, often consuming diets that include, at most, four food groups, and on some days even less.