More than half of Afghanistan's population unable to feed their families

The compounding impacts of COVID-19, extreme drought, sustained conflict, and the economic crisis in Afghanistan has led to a loss of livelihoods and job opportunities, made finding food a major challenge, and caused widespread illness and loss of life.

With the harsh winter fast approaching the situation is set to worsen, as access to areas of the country that are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance will be cut off by heavy snow and people will be unable to support themselves during the freezing conditions.

The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report issued by the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster of Afghanistan, co-led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the UN World Food Programme, found that more than one in two Afghans will be facing crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity from November.

What does acute food insecurity mean?

Acute food insecurity means that a person is regularly unable to consume adequate food to the extent to which their lives or livelihoods are in immediate danger.

This means that over 22.8 million people in Afghanistan require urgent support to feed themselves and their families in order to avoid a further deepening of the humanitarian crisis. That figure has risen from 14m only two months ago.

The report highlights that this is the highest number of acutely food insecure people ever recorded in the ten years the UN has been conducting IPC analyses in Afghanistan, and warns that it is on the brink of becoming the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

What can we do to help the situation in Afghanistan?

Urgent action from the international community is absolutely vital before it is too late. Afghanaid has been ramping up our humanitarian assistance to support families to get through the winter months and rebuild their lives come spring. Since the beginning of 2021, we have supported over 302 thousand men, women and children with emergency humanitarian assistance, including providing shelter, food, heating and cash.

We need your help to reach more. Donate today to support those who need it most:

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could provide a household kit to a family, including cooking utensils, soap and a solar lamp.

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could provide emergency shelter for a family who have lost or had to leave their home.

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could purchase 6 months worth of emergency food for a family to help them make it through crisis.

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