Afghanistan is currently facing a severe drought, leaving thousands of families across the country in need of immediate humanitarian assistance. Afghanaid is coordinating with the World Food Programme and local partners in Afghanistan, in order to ensure that these vulnerable families have adequate food.

The situation

Water shortages have lead to much lower yield of crops throughout this year, meaning families have little or no food for themselves, or fodder to feed their livestock. This has continuously reduced their income and minimised their ability to withstand environmental and economic crises. Indeed, the shortage of food, alongside a lack of clean water, has had devastating effects for these families.

New mothers who need better nutrition to support themselves and their breastfeeding babies, now have no way of giving their newborns the nutrition they need to survive and thrive. Poor health throughout the family lowers their immunity and increases the risk of infection and the spread of disease. Malnutrition in young children leads to stunted growth and poor mental development and, moreover, it is the largest underlying cause of death worldwide.

Families placed in such extreme situations will often engage in desperate negative coping strategies, such as selling all of their livestock at a low price, forcing their daughters into early marriages for the dowry, or even whole families migrating away from their farms, meaning that children miss huge amounts of time at school, the families lose harvests and any sort of stable income.

Our response

By the end of September, we provided essential food to more than 10,700 vulnerable families, that’s an estimated 74,500 men, women and children, across Ghor, one of the country’s hardest-hit provinces. With our support, these families can break out of the spiral into poverty, strengthen their resilience to future crises and take back control of the development of their communities.

UPDATE 18th September 2018: We have now signed agreements with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations to continue our support of these vulnerable families. Over the next four months, we will protect and rehabilitate the livelihoods of 4,000 drought-affected farming families at risk of hunger and malnutrition. 

When emergencies arise in Afghanistan, Afghanaid's dedicated staff immediately set to work, providing life-saving assistance in the most remote communities, as well as long-lasting support to help vulnerable Afghans rebuild their lives.

Find out more:

How we support communities to prepare for crises and recover during emergencies.

How you can help: