How clinic closures left 3.7 million Afghan children acutely malnourished

What the report says

Save the Children says worsening funding shortages and clinic closures are deepening Afghanistan’s child malnutrition crisis, leaving about 3.7 million children under five acutely malnourished in 2026. The aid group’s findings, cited by Al Jazeera, say nearly one in 10 young children in the country is now affected, with conditions worsening in two-thirds of provinces compared with the same period last year.

The report links the rise to a sharp decline in humanitarian support and the shutdown of around 600 essential health facilities. Those clinics had served about 4 million people, roughly half of them children. Save the Children also said humanitarian aid has fallen by almost 70 percent over four years, from $3.27 billion in 2022 to $1 billion in 2025, while only $438 million had been secured more than halfway through 2026, leaving a large funding gap.

Al Jazeera’s report said the crisis is unfolding against broader strain on the country’s health and aid system after the Taliban returned to power in 2021, which contributed to donor cutbacks and limits on aid operations. It also noted that Afghanistan’s population has grown as more than six million Afghans returned from Pakistan and Iran, adding pressure on already limited services.

Save the Children warned that the combination of hunger, displacement, drought and reduced services is pushing families toward breaking point, underscoring the risk to children’s health and survival if funding and access do not improve.