Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has witnessed an alarming increase in the number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition with medical complications requiring lifesaving treatment in its inpatient therapeutic feeding centers in southern Afghanistan.
The crisis has been driven in part by sharp reductions in international funding last year, including significant US cuts that have severely impacted health programs across the country. The emergency is compounded by recurrent droughts and disrupted food supplies.
“Children are reaching us far too late, often in critical condition with preventable medical complications,” says Ana Lilia Banda, MSF medical coordinator in southern Afghanistan. “This reflects not only worsening food insecurity, but also the breakdown of systems designed to detect and treat malnutrition early. An effective response requires a full range of malnutrition services — from outpatient services for [patients with] uncomplicated cases to inpatient care for critically ill children. Restoring these services is essential to prevent avoidable deaths.”
Funding cuts are contributing to alarming malnutrition rates
The US was the single largest donor to Afghanistan’s humanitarian response until mid-2025, when the Trump administration abruptly terminated all bilateral assistance to the country. In 2024 alone, the US provided more than $736 million to the Afghanistan humanitarian response plan — 45 percent of total funding requested, according to the UN humanitarian agency. While the US has recently renewed select humanitarian funding commitments through UN agencies and other mechanisms, none of this assistance is slated to reach Afghanistan.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), significant reductions in international funding since early 2025 have led to the suspension or closure of 445 health facilities, including 203 mobile health and nutrition teams. These services were critical for community-based malnutrition screening, early detection, and timely care.
At the MSF-supported inpatient therapeutic feeding centers in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, admissions of severely malnourished children were on average more than 30 percent higher between January and April 2026 compared to the same period in the previous three years. Most patients were infants younger than 1 year old. This sharp increase signals a severe deterioration in food security across Afghanistan and is placing significant strain on MSF’s capacity to respond. MSF urgently calls for increased funding and resources for nutrition programs to prevent the crisis from worsening.
Malnutrition in mothers impacts their children
The situation is further exacerbated by recurrent droughts, which have reduced crop yields and deepened food and economic insecurity. At the same time, border closures linked to regional geopolitical tensions have disrupted the supply of therapeutic food and driven up food prices, further limiting access to adequate nutrition — particularly for pregnant women and mothers.
“Malnutrition is not only a medical issue but also a social issue,” says Banda. “Exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months, followed by appropriate complementary feeding, is essential for infants. But when mothers themselves do not have enough to eat, how are they expected to feed their babies? We are seeing many malnourished children younger than 1 year old, often accompanied by mothers or caretakers who also need care.”
This year, admissions to the MSF-supported inpatient therapeutic feeding center at Boost Provincial Hospital in Helmand province have reached record monthly highs compared to the same period over the past five years. Between January and April 2026, more than 1,500 severely malnourished children with medical complications were admitted — more than double the number recorded during the same period in 2022.
Over the same four-month period, MSF’s inpatient therapeutic feeding center in Kandahar province admitted over 570 malnourished children, while more than 300 patients were referred to other health facilities. Even after increasing capacity, the demand for treatment exceeds what MSF teams can provide.
The needs far outweigh MSF’s capacity
MSF has scaled up its response in Helmand and Kandahar, but with the seasonal peak of malnutrition now underway, we are deeply concerned that rising needs will continue to outpace the humanitarian response.
MSF calls on donors, health authorities, and relevant organizations to urgently prioritize and restore international and domestic funding for nutrition programs across Afghanistan. An uninterrupted supply of specialized therapeutic food and essential medical supplies must also be ensured. Without immediate action, the crisis will worsen, leaving more children without access to the lifesaving care they urgently need.
MSF in Afghanistan
MSF runs seven projects in Bamyan, Helmand, Herat, Balkh, Kandahar, Khost, and Kunduz provinces, focusing on delivering secondary health care services. Currently, MSF is providing treatment for malnourished children in Helmand and Kandahar provinces in southern Afghanistan and Herat province in the west of the country. In 2025, 9,388 children were admitted to MSF-supported inpatient therapeutic feeding centers, and 3,166 children were enrolled in outpatient therapeutic feeding centers.
