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MSF sees high numbers of malnourished children as families struggle with poverty
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said this week the main cause of malnutrition in Afghanistan is poverty, and that children under the age of six months are often too young to be enrolled in many of the nutrition programs in the country.
According to an MSF report, often, families are forced to travel long distances to access health services either run by or supported by the organization in order to get help for their babies.
Often the inpatient wards for malnutrition, at MSF, are so crowded that two babies and their mothers share the same bed.
Some are treated by MSF, go home, and then come back again a few weeks later, the root causes of their malnutrition unaddressed, the report read.
For those with congenital diseases, this is because the necessary specialized hospital care is hard to find, often far away from home, and expensive.
Over the course of 2023, MSF-run and MSF-supported facilities in Herat, Lashkargah, and Kandahar admitted a total of over 10,400 children up to five years old.
Between January and April 2024 the facilities admitted 2,416 patients, a 5 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
Teams in Herat and Kandahar enrolled over 6,900 children in outpatient therapeutic feeding centers in 2023.
Khodadad, a resident of Baghlan province, says that his 18-month-old child is malnourished and because of financial problems he is not able to afford a private clinic.
He said his child is being treated in health centers supported by international organizations.
The World Food Program (WFP) said earlier this month that four million Afghans, of which 3.2 million are children under the age of five, currently suffer from severe malnutrition.
This United Nations agency also said that this year 23.7 million Afghans need humanitarian aid, of which 12.4 million people will face a high level of food insecurity by October.
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Ten people were killed by unknown individuals in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province on Thursday night, police said on Friday.
The incident happened as the victims were doing Zikr at a mosque in Shahr-e-Kuhna of Nahrin district, police said in a statement.
The statement said that they used to regularly go to mosques and monasteries at night after returning from work.
Abdul Ghayoor Khadim, a provincial police official, said that several people were arrested in connection with the incident, adding that an investigation was launched.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Serdar Muhammetdurdiyev on Thursday met with Chinese special envoy for Afghanistan, Yue Xiaoyong, the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan announced.
During the meeting, the sides discussed priority vectors of strategic interstate cooperation built on a long-term, mutually beneficial basis, as well as exchanged views on the implementation of previously reached agreements.
It was noted that personal contacts between the leaders of the two countries play a key role in intensifying the interstate dialogue, which give a strong impulse to further development and expansion of Turkmen-Chinese ties.
It was emphasized that Turkmenistan considers multilateral international platforms for maintaining stability in Afghanistan as an important factor in promoting sustainable improvement of socio-economic state of the neighboring country. The sides exchanged views on the preparations to the 5th meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan's Neighboring States to be held in Turkmenistan.
The interlocutors reaffirmed that Turkmenistan and China will continue to provide all-round support for the economic restoration of Afghanistan.
The U.S. House Of Representatives has passed a legislation on evacuation of Afghans who assisted Americans during the 20-year war in Afghanistan.
“The passage of the CARE Authorization Act of 2024 further underscores the commitment made by the U.S. government to safeguard those who served shoulder-to-shoulder with our personnel during the twenty-year mission in Afghanistan,” Congresswoman Dina Titus said in a statement.
“The State Department has made it clear: There is no deadline for the crucial job of protecting Afghan allies. By authorizing the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts at the State Department, we can more effectively relocate and resettle those who have qualified to immigrate to the U.S. as a result of their service to this country.”
In 2022 the State Department established a specialized office called the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) to streamline and coordinate the ongoing relocation and resettlement process for eligible Afghans from Afghanistan and Pakistan to the United States.
The CARE Authorization Act of 2024 will formally authorize the CARE office at the State Department for three years and grant important authorities to advance its mission. These include an extension of authorities to enter into personal services contracts as well as measures to streamline the transfer of funds to and from other agencies involved in the Afghan relocation mission.
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