The World Health Organization has stated that one million children may die in Afghanistan this winter

Aid organizations had previously warned of severe famine in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The country’s economy collapsed with the withdrawal of Western economic aid earlier this fall as a result of the Taliban’s entry. Reuters reported that hospital staff are fleeing already overburdened hospitals due to unpaid salaries.

At the same time, parts of Afghanistan were hit by a drought, which meant that crops did not bear fruit as expected. The coming winter months are beginning to remind themselves that night temperatures can drop even below zero, making young children and the elderly more susceptible to other diseases.

– It’s a fight upwards when famine gripped the land. The world cannot and cannot afford to turn its back on Afghanistan, Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, told reporters in Geneva earlier on Friday.

She could not say how many children had actually died from malnutrition, but described the situation in the country’s hospitals as “wards full of children.” Among other things, she described a seven-month-old baby who was normally smaller than a newborn.

Measles is one of the diseases that has increased in the country in recent months, with 24,000 cases reported so far.

Measles is a deadly disease of malnourished children. We’ll see more deaths if we don’t act quickly, Harris said.

swedish development aid agency sida He restructured Swedish aid to Afghanistan so that it did not pass through the Taliban-controlled government but reached the civilian population directly through cooperation with organizations on the ground. This year, Swedish aid to the country has reached SEK 258 million, after parts of the Asian grant were redistributed to Afghanistan.

in the middle of october The European Union has decided on a one billion kroner support package for Afghanistan to counter the humanitarian and economic collapse. Inger Plino, Head of the Lund Division of the Swedish-Afghan Committee, Wrote an article about the debate in Sydsvenskan on Friday She described the difficulties aid funds face in actually reaching organizations in Afghanistan.

The Swedish-Afghan Committee has been operating in Afghanistan for nearly 40 years and runs schools and health care in the country’s poorest districts. The committee has 6,000 employees in Afghanistan and there is now no money to pay the salaries of doctors, teachers and midwives. The lack of gasoline for ambulances and school supplies are just some of the practical challenges,” she wrote, among other things.

She says the European Union and the international community need to work to find new ways to pay the money.

“The ban on remittances to Afghanistan must be lifted and the country’s banking system must be given basic conditions to operate,” she wrote.