The Children Who Are Disappearing: Inside Afghanistan’s Malnutrition Crisis

Inside Kabul’s Indira Gandhi Hospital, mothers crowd the corridors, clutching frail children as nurses rush between them. Beds are scarce, and when a child dies, another takes their place within minutes. Doctors say for every one who reaches the hospital, several more never make it that far, children like Basira’s baby, identified by Aseel’s Atalaan team in their home, too weak to travel for treatment, and surviving on little more than bread and tea.

A Nation Starving Its Young

The scale of the crisis is grim and growing. According to UNICEF, as of mid-2025, more than 3.5 million children under five in Afghanistan are suffering from wasting (acute malnutrition), and 1.4 million of them are in a life-threatening condition. UNICEF also reports that over 2.1 million children under five live in food poverty, with 1.2 million trapped in severe food poverty. Earlier estimates warned that nearly 900,000 children could face severe acute malnutrition, which can be fatal without timely intervention.

Hospitals in Kabul, Herat, and other provinces have become battlefronts in this silent war. A doctor at Indira Gandhi Hospital says more than ten malnourished children arrive daily. He describes a severe scarcity of milk and therapeutic supplies, enough to treat many, but not nearly all. After the initial 7- to 10-day rehabilitation phase, children are often discharged back to their homes, even though those homes may have no food to offer.

When Help Isn’t Enough

One of those children is Kaihan, a thin little boy whose father sits beside him, helpless. Doctors provide therapeutic sachets to help rebuild his strength, but it isn’t enough. “They tell us to feed him better food,” his father says, “but we have no money.” The family of five survives on tea and dry bread. Kaihan interrupts his father mid-sentence, his voice barely audible. “I only eat the sachet,” he says. His father looks away. “We just watch him get thinner,” he whispers.

It is a cruel pattern that repeats across the country. Hospitals treat the symptoms, but the cause — hunger — follows these children home. Poverty is now a disease that no amount of medicine can cure. Mothers try to comfort one child while another fades away in their arms. In some wards, nurses say mothers have lost three or more children to malnutrition. There is no time to grieve; new patients arrive constantly, some too weak to even cry.

A Crisis the World Saw Coming

The suffering in Afghanistan did not arrive suddenly. In recent BBC reporting, the country was already described as sliding into a malnutrition disaster. Aid organisations warned that shrinking funds and cuts to community nutrition programmes would soon lead to large numbers of child deaths, especially as hospitals are overwhelmed.

This year, those fears became reality. Another recent BBC feature chronicled a mother who had lost three children to malnutrition, noting that such tragedies are no longer rare but have become distressingly common. The article described how, in one hospital ward, after one child dies, the bed is almost immediately filled by another — a cruel cycle of quiet desperation. The piece also documented how dietary aid and nutrition programmes have contracted sharply, leaving hospitals strained and mothers increasingly isolated in their grief.

How Aseel Steps In

Amid this heartbreaking crisis, Aseel is responding directly to the needs of children and families, turning despair into hope through carefully designed aid packages. Every action is guided by what the children and mothers actually need, identified by our on-the-ground Atalaan team.

• For children sent home from hospitals, Aseel provides a Child Nutrition Package. These boxes contain therapeutic and enriching foods designed to meet the nutritional requirements of children recovering from malnutrition, ensuring that their fragile bodies continue to grow even outside the hospital walls.
• For pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, Aseel offers a Maternal Nutrition Package. This provides nutrient-rich foods and essential supplements that help mothers stay healthy and produce enough milk for their infants, addressing malnutrition before it starts in the next generation.
• For families struggling to afford nutritious meals, Aseel distributes Cash Support Packages. These allow parents to buy locally available, nutrient-rich foods for their children, giving them the autonomy to provide what is most needed for their family while stimulating local markets.

Each donation to Aseel translates directly into one of these three life-saving interventions, helping children like Kaihan and mothers like Basira survive and thrive.

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