Afghanistan: Humanitarian Update, February 2023

HIGHLIGHTS

The world must stand by the people of Afghanistan.
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Aid agencies scale up winterization response.
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Shrinking operating environment
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Afghanistan Humanitarian Pool Fund breaks new ground.
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THE WORLD MUST STAND BY THE PEOPLE OF AFGHANISTAN.

With a record 28.3 million people – that is two-thirds of its population – in need of humanitarian and protection assistance in 2023, Afghanistan started the year as the world’s largest and most severe humanitarian crisis. This represents a massive deterioration both in terms of numbers and severity. Of the 28.3 million people in need of life-saving assistance, humanitarian partners have prioritized 23.7 million people to receive well-coordinated multi-sector assistance in 2023, for which US$4.62 billion is required.

This a huge spike from 24.4 million people in need in 2022 and 18.4 million in early 2021.Today, some 20 million people face acute hunger by March 2023, with 6 million people in ‘emergency’ levels (one step away from famine) - one of the world’s highest figures in absolute terms. Malnutrition rates remain extremely high, with some 875,000 children expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in 2023, and 2.3 million children and 840,000 women from moderate acute malnutrition (MAM). If Afghanistan enters a third year of drought, the nutrition situation could deteriorate by a further 20 per cent.

The country enters its third consecutive year of drought-like conditions and the second year of crippling economic decline, all the while still reeling from the after-effects of decades of conflict and recurrent natural disasters. Changes in rainfall patterns severely eroded livelihood practices.

In the addition, the deteriorating economy has caused sharp declines in income, rising debt and high unemployment. A staggering 80 per cent of households across Afghanistan have experienced income reduction. People’s debts have mounted – both in terms of the number of people taking on debt (82 per cent of all households) and the amount of debt (about 11 per cent higher than the previous year). Three quarters of people’s incomes is spent on food, with very little left to meet their other needs, such as education and health care. Deepening poverty, human rights violations and a lack of access to essential services are compounding an already dire situation.

Despite a challenging and volatile operating environment, aid agencies have mounted one of the world’s largest humanitarian operations. Supported by a timely and generous donor response, aid agencies reached more than 26.1 million people with some form of assistance in 2022 and averted famine in the last summer.

While the operating space is shrinking due to the restrictive measures by the Taliban de facto authorities, mainly on women and girls, in 2023 aid agencies remain committed to stay and deliver on behalf of the Afghan population in need. Aid agencies are calling on the international community to remain in solidarity with the Afghan people and to put all hands on deck to prevent Afghanistan from spiraling any further. Urgent funding and a conducive operating environment are both critical to preventing the worst fears from being realized, as the outlook for 2023 remains grim.