UNICEF calls for urgent action as peak wasting season nears and child food and nutrition insecurity puts 3.7 million children in Afghanistan at heightened risk of malnutrition

KABUL, 12 July 2026 – A new UNICEF report released today highlights that child food and nutrition insecurity is one of the primary drivers putting 3.7 million children under the age of five in Afghanistan at increased risk of undernutrition, underscoring the urgent need to protect children’s diets and act earlier to prevent life-threatening wasting.

For the first time at this scale, UNICEF in Afghanistan is measuring child malnutrition alongside the lived experience of early childhood food and nutrition insecurity in the same group of children across all provinces, capturing early warning signs such as reduced food variety, skipped meals, children eating less than they need, or children going hungry.

The report, Too Little, Too Late: The Diet Crisis Facing Young Children in Afghanistan, comes as Afghanistan enters a peak wasting season, with recent Nutrition Cluster data showing that wasting has worsened across 26 of the country’s 34 provinces compared with 2025. This deterioration is occurring before the July to September peak period, signalling an early and deepening crisis. Children under two are disproportionately affected, accounting for 83 per cent of severe acute malnutrition cases and 77 per cent of moderate acute malnutrition cases.

“Young children in Afghanistan are being pushed closer to malnutrition before the peak season has even begun,” said Dr. Tajudeen Oyewale, UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan. “This new evidence gives us an opportunity to act before children reach the point of severe malnutrition. When families begin reducing meals or cutting back on nutritious foods it is not only a sign of hardship. It is a warning that a child may soon become dangerously wasted. Treatment saves lives, but we must also invest in prevention, starting with the diets of the youngest children and pregnant women.”

The latest Afghanistan Nutrition Cluster alert shows why the response must go beyond nutrition services alone. In addition to poor young child diets and rising food insecurity, worsening malnutrition in Afghanistan is being driven by disease outbreaks, low immunisation coverage, inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene services, and growing funding and supply gaps. Together, these pressures are increasing children’s vulnerability to wasting and underline the need for coordinated action across nutrition, health, water, sanitation and hygiene, education and social protection services.

Wasting is an acute and potentially life-threatening form of malnutrition. It means a child is too thin for their height, often because of recent food deprivation, illness, or both, and can quickly become life-threatening without timely care. The new analysis shows that children in severely food-insecure households are up to six times more likely to suffer from wasting during peak malnutrition periods.

UNICEF is calling for urgent investment to protect young children’s diets and prevent more children from becoming malnourished, particularly before the peak wasting season. This includes scaling up the First Foods Initiative, prioritising children aged 6 to 23 months, strengthening preventive nutrition services, and ensuring essential services are better aligned around children’s nutrition needs.

With the peak wasting season approaching, the window to act is narrowing. The warning signs are visible earlier, and the response must come earlier too. Urgent, flexible funding is needed now to help UNICEF and partners reach families before child food and nutrition insecurity becomes life-threatening malnutrition.