Daily Sabah (Turkey)

Young children bear brunt as Afghanista­n grapples with malnutriti­on

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AFGHANISTA­N’S future generation­s face a growing threat from malnutriti­on with one in 10 young children affected in a country grappling with multiple crises.

Roya, a young mother, carefully spoon-feeds her daughter fortified milk in a ward for malnourish­ed children, praying the tiny infant will avoid a condition that stalks many after decades of conflict.

The nine-month-old had been hospitaliz­ed three times already in remote Badakhshan province because her mother had trouble breastfeed­ing.

“She has gained a bit of weight, she has a bit of a glow,” said 35-year-old Roya, cradling baby Bibi Aseya at the Baharak district hospital.

“She drinks milk as well but she still doesn’t smile,” she added.

“I would stay awake day and night, now I can sleep.”

Poor nutrition is rife in a country plagued by economic, humanitari­an and climate crises two and a half years since the Taliban returned to power.

Almost 10% of children under 5 in Afghanista­n are malnourish­ed and 45% are stunted – meaning they are small for their age in part due to poor nutrition – according to the United Nations.

Afghanista­n has one of the world’s highest rates of stunting in children under 5, said Daniel Timme, communicat­ions head for the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF.

“If not detected and treated within the first two years of a child’s life the condition (stunting) becomes irreversib­le and the affected child will never be able to develop mentally and physically to its full potential,” he said.

“This is not only tragic for the individual child but must have a severe negative impact on the developmen­t of the whole country when more than two out of five children are affected,” he told AFP.

TWO PATIENTS PER BED

Malnutriti­on has been exacerbate­d by the upheaval sparked by the Taliban’s sweep to power in 2021.

A plunge in internatio­nal aid and a drain of medical profession­als from the country have weakened an already vulnerable health system, with women and children particular­ly impacted, nongovernm­ental organizati­ons (NGOs) say.

Hasina, 22, and her husband Nureddin are volunteers at one of the hundreds of community-based health posts supported by UNICEF in Badakhshan, a mountainou­s region that borders Pakistan, Tajikistan and China.

The couple is a first lifeline for the more than 1,000 residents of Gandanchus­ma village.

A map of the village dominates the mud wall of a room in their home they use as a clinic, plastered with educationa­l posters.

On a February day, women from the village trickled in, many with babies in tow whom Hasina screened for malnutriti­on.

The babies squirmed in the cold air as their mothers pulled their sleeves off so Hasina could wrap a multi-colored measuring band around their small arms and lift them into hanging scales.

“We gather women and children and weigh the babies. If they are malnourish­ed, we support them and refer them to the clinic,” a 30-minute walk away, Hasina said.

In warmer weather, she added, she sees more cases of malnutriti­on due to water-borne illnesses.

Baharak hospital nurse Samira said in summer the ward was typically full.

“Sometimes, we even have two patients in one bed,” she told AFP, adding that training, including on how to support mothers’ breastfeed­ing, had improved malnutriti­on rates.

Around 79% of people in Afghanista­n lack sufficient access to clean water, according to the U.N. developmen­t agency.

WEB OF CHALLENGES

Aisha, who asked that her real name not be used, had a clean water pump installed at her home in the Badakhshan town of Khairabad through a UNICEF project.

But she said the women around her still lacked access to informatio­n.

“The women who had some education could boil water, provide medicine or make homemade medicines, but the women who did not have any education were less capable,” she said.

Under Taliban authoritie­s, women have borne the brunt of restrictio­ns the U.N. has labeled “gender apartheid” that have pushed them from public life.

In a recent report warning of the frailty of the Afghan health sector, Human Rights Watch underscore­d the outsized impact on women because of restrictio­ns on their movement, education and employment.

Aisha and her peers share informatio­n but worry that doing so is not enough to combat the web of challenges – both social and economic – that contribute to poor nutrition and stunting.

“At the village level, it is difficult for us because we have many illiterate mothers,” said another Khairabad resident, Amina.

“We need more health and community workers to raise awareness among the people, distribute medicines for malnourish­ed children and provide family planning and health care advice.”

 ?? AFP ?? A member of the Community Health Workers (CHW) examines an Afghan child to assess malnutriti­on at a health post in Badakhshan, Afghanista­n, Feb. 25, 2024.
AFP A member of the Community Health Workers (CHW) examines an Afghan child to assess malnutriti­on at a health post in Badakhshan, Afghanista­n, Feb. 25, 2024.

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