According to UNICEF and the United Nations World Food Programme, 14 million people in Afghanistan are facing acute food insecurity, 3.2 million of those children under the age of 5. People in Afghanistan are facing a food insecurity and malnutrition crisis of unparalleled proportions. The rapid increase in those experiencing acute hunger – from 14 million in July 2021 to 23 million in March 2022 – has forced households to resort to desperate measures such as skipping meals or taking on unprecedented debt to ensure there is some food on the table at the end of the day.
Operation Mercy is in close contact with the UN agencies in Afghanistan, and we are engaging directly in two urban centers of Afghanistan where we have preexisting relationships with the health authorities and community through our development projects over the last decade. We have completed the assessment phase of the nutrition project and have identified several districts in two major cities in Afghanistan where we are ready to run the intervention focused on assessment, supplementary feeding, and prevention of malnutrition through an integrated health approach. We expect to serve about 29.000 households with education on how to prevent malnutrition and - from current assessments - at least 7500 children and women who will need nutritional supplements or other support. Our staff are engaging with project participants and providing much needed support and care to families in need.
Although our projects may have changed, we remain committed to building hope, capacity and community through partnerships in Afghanistan.