The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned Tuesday that some 19.2 million Afghans, more than a third of the country's population, are at risk of severe food insecurity by April 2027.
"During the dry winter season, which runs from November to April, the number of people facing severe food insecurity is expected to reach 19.2 million," OCHA spokesperson in Afghanistan Olga Cherevko told reporters in Geneva from Kabul.
Five million of these people could face emergency levels of hunger, Cherevko added.
A portion of the Afghan population is facing a severe food crisis following devastating earthquakes last year, this year's climate-related disasters, and the return of millions of Afghans from Iran. Pakistan has been experiencing severe food insecurity since 2023.
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) between September and October, 15.9 million people were, or are currently, experiencing acute food insecurity at the "crisis" level or worse. This figure already includes 3.4 million people living in conditions classified by OCHA as "emergency."
"It is also feared that more than four million children, aged between six months and five years, will need treatment for acute malnutrition next year," said Cherevko.
"These figures represent children whose families cannot afford nutritious food, and families whose resilience has been eroded by years of conflict, economic hardship, drought, and other shocks," she added.
The situation is worsening with the closure or suspension of services at nearly a third of nutrition centers across the country, "mostly due to budget cuts," Cherevko said.
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