The first of three European Union-funded humanitarian flights carrying emergency nutrition supplies landed in Afghanistan on Tuesday, as aid agencies confront severe shortages of food for malnourished children.
The airlifts, organized in partnership with UNICEF, are expected to deliver a total of 20,000 boxes of ready-to-use therapeutic food, or RUTF, a nutrient-dense paste used to treat severe acute malnutrition. Aid groups say the supplies are urgently needed to sustain treatment programs across the country.
Recent shortages have been driven by limited local procurement options, the closure of the border with Pakistan — one of Afghanistan’s main supply routes — and sweeping funding cuts by major humanitarian donors, according to the European Union and UNICEF.
“The EU remains committed to Afghanistan’s most vulnerable — ensuring life-saving nutrition reaches children when it matters the most,” Veronika Boskovic Pohar, head of the European Union’s delegation to Afghanistan, said in a statement. She said the shipment would help treat 20,000 children.
The supplies will be distributed by UNICEF to humanitarian organizations across Afghanistan to prevent interruptions in treatment until regular supply channels can be restored.
“For children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, timely treatment can mean the difference between life and death,” said Tajudeen Oyewale, UNICEF’s representative in Afghanistan. He thanked the European Union for what he described as rapid and critical support.
Afghanistan is grappling with a prolonged nutrition crisis exacerbated by economic instability, conflict and climate-related disasters. An estimated 3.7 million children under 5 are acutely malnourished, according to UNICEF, a condition that weakens immune systems and leaves children more vulnerable to infections and death.
Aid agencies have warned that disruptions to supply chains and declining funding threaten to deepen the humanitarian emergency in one of the world’s poorest countries.
