An estimated 98 per cent of Afghans are not consuming enough food, a 17 per cent increase since August, according to the latest WFP survey cited in the release….reports Asian Lite News
The World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday said that the UN needs USD 220 million per month to feed 23 million Afghans.
“Afghanistan is facing an avalanche of hunger and destitution the likes of which I have never seen in my twenty-plus years with the World Food Program,” WFP Country Director Mary-Ellen McGroarty said in a press release.
McGroarty added that the WFP urgently needs USD 220 million each month in 2022 for 23 million Afghans.
In November, WFP assisted more than seven million people, dispatching over 50,000 million tons of food – almost double the dispatches in September, the release said.
In preparation for the coming year, WFP began prepositioning food in strategic locations across the northeast and central highlands of the country where heavy winter snows can cut off communities from assistance, the release added.
An estimated 98 per cent of Afghans are not consuming enough food, a 17 per cent increase since August, according to the latest WFP survey cited in the release.
The humanitarian crisis deepened in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country in mid-August.
Meanwhile, earlier, Former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai met with UN Special Representative Deborah Lyons and discussed humanitarian assistance, local media reported on Monday.
Taking to Twitter, Tolo News said that Karzai and Lyons discussed humanitarian aid; support for teachers and health workers, and girls’ access to education and women’s access to work.
“Former president Hamid Karzai met with UN SR Deborah Lyons and discussed humanitarian assistance; support for school teachers, university instructors and health workers; as well as girls’ access to education and women’s access to work,” Tolo News tweeted.
Under the Taliban’s rule the status of Afghan women has yet to be clarified.
Earlier, the Gender Alert report said that Taliban’s assurance that the rights of women and girls will be respected under Islamic Law, “there is a rapid reversal of their rights across all areas of life.
“Also, the UN report mentioned that approximately 60 per cent of out-of-school children are girls.”USD 1 billion or up to 5% of the GDP is the estimated immediate economic loss of restricting women from working,” the report cited in a graph.”
This Gender Alert also explores how the rights of women and girls are interconnected, meaning that rapid improvement across the full spectrum of women’s rights is urgently needed,” the report said.
The report also proposed support to “rebuild the Afghan women’s movement”, “support services for women by women,” and the “monitoring (of) human rights.” (ANI)