Malnutrition in Afghanistan is at a disastrous level. To highlight this serious problem, INTERSOS has published an Advocacy Brief detailing the current malnutrition situation in the country and providing an overview of the organisation’s efforts in assisting populations in need, while calling international decision-makers to provide urgent, sustained, and flexible support to ensure that Afghanistan’s most vulnerable populations are not left behind.
After emerging from decades of conflicts in 2021, Afghanistan remains entrapped in a multi-layered crisis. Almost 23 million people, around half of Afghanistan’s population, are considered to be in need of humanitarian assistance, and an estimated 7.8 million people require nutrition support.
INTERSOS, present in Afghanistan since 2001, currently manages projects across seven provinces. This Advocacy Brief, developed from INTERSOS’ direct experience on the ground and secondary information, aims to provide an overview of the malnutrition situation in the country, share INTERSOS’ humanitarian response, and highlight the main challenges, gaps, and risks in addressing malnutrition. Finally, it outlines key recommendations to respond to the ongoing crisis.
Malnutrition in Afghanistan
Afghanistan is facing a worsening nutrition crisis that leaves millions, especially children and women, without adequate food or access to essential services. Poverty, widespread food insecurity, recurring disease outbreaks, limited health and nutrition services, and restrictions that limit families’ access to resources are all powerful drivers of high malnutrition levels. Furthermore, in an already challenging socio-economic context, resulting in a devastating humanitarian impact for the majority of the Afghan population, the return of large numbers of Afghans from neighboring countries has added further strain to a fragile system with overstretched resources.
As of August 2025, 31 out of 34 provinces were classified as serious or critical in terms of food insecurity severity, with more than 9.5 million people facing food insecurity at crisis levels or worse according to the most recent projection from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
The most reliable evidence of malnutrition can be seen by the growing number of admissions to health facilities over the country to treat both severe and moderate acute malnutrition, which have continued to rise in 2025. Compared to 2024, cases of malnutrition among children and pregnant or breastfeeding women have significantly increased. Compared to the same period in 2024, between January and September 2025, admissions for SAM among children under five increased by 1%, according to data collected by Afghanistan’s Nutrition Cluster. The increase was even more pronounced for MAM: admissions among children under five rose by 5%, and among pregnant and breastfeeding women they surged by 19%.
Additionally, the funding shortfall from USAID and other donors has led to the closure of hundreds of health and nutrition facilities, making it even more challenging for local populations to receive the assistance they need. This shows the scale of the situation, as the number of cases has continued to rise despite a reduction in the number of active facilities.
INTERSOS experience
In the communities we assist, INTERSOS staff sees the effects of malnutrition first-hand. In our health facilities located in the provinces of Kabul, Zabul, Kandahar, Oruzgan, Helmand, Nimruz, and Herat children and women often arrive in difficult conditions as assistance is incredibly limited in many rural areas.
For instance, only in the month of July, INTERSOS conducted 10,728 nutrition screenings of children under 5 years across all its health facilities and community levels, of which 585 were admitted for Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and 298 were admitted for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). This means that almost 8.2% of those screened needed nutrition support, indicating a high prevalence of acute malnutrition.
The impact of underfunding
In Afghanistan, a context that has experienced an abrupt withdrawal of development assistance, the presence of humanitarian organisations is a lifeline for its population. Not only development assistance was withdrawn – humanitarian funding cuts have impacted millions of people around the country too, causing the closure of health facilities and other services, and reducing the presence of humanitarian organisations around the country.
The situation in 2025 became even more dire with the sudden suspension of US funding, resulting in more than 420 health facilities forced to close across the country since February 2025, leaving over 3 million people without access to basic healthcare. On top of this, the continued decline in funding from other donors for the Afghan context is further worsening an already critical situation.
Recommendations
INTERSOS calls on donors for sustained, flexible, and expanded funding support to prevent further deterioration and ensure that life-saving nutrition services reach the most vulnerable. In addition, we also call UN agencies, NGOs, other humanitarian stakeholders, and Afghan authorities to take urgent, coordinated action to address Afghanistan’s malnutrition crisis.
Key priorities include ensuring uninterrupted supplies of life-saving nutrition commodities, expanding integrated health, nutrition, and WASH services, and removing restrictions that prevent women from working and accessing care.
At INTERSOS we also urge the need for principled engagement with authorities, cross-border support for returnees, and long-term development-based investments to break the cycle of hunger, poverty, and aid dependency.
Download the Policy Paper to consult the full list of recommendations.