Nearly one in 10 children under the age of five in Afghanistan is suffering from acute malnutrition, with conditions deteriorating sharply as more than six million people return from Iran and Pakistan, according to a statement by Save the Children, a UK-based international NGO. The crisis, reported on 13 August 2026, is unfolding against a backdrop of collapsed healthcare infrastructure and a near-total collapse in humanitarian funding.

Scale of the Crisis

Acute malnutrition among Afghan children under five has surged by 14 per cent over the last four years, reaching 3.7 million children in 2026, according to Save the Children. Wasting — the most severe and visible form of acute malnutrition — worsened in two-thirds of Afghanistan's provinces in the second quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year, driven in part by rising rates of infectious disease.

Notably, this is described as the peak season for malnutrition in Afghanistan, a country where the Taliban regained control five years ago and where structural food insecurity has become a near-permanent condition.

Funding Collapse and Health Facility Closures

Humanitarian aid for Afghanistan has fallen by almost 70 per cent — from USD 3.27 billion in 2022 to just USD 1 billion in 2025. As a direct consequence, almost 600 health facilities have been closed or suspended due to funding cuts, stripping communities of the very infrastructure needed to treat malnourished children.

Afghanistan's population has also grown by up to 12 per cent since September 2023, compounding pressure on already stretched resources. The combination of population growth and shrinking aid creates what aid workers describe as an accelerating gap between need and response.

Mass Returns Stretching Resources to the Brink

Ashish Damle, Save the Children's Country Director in Afghanistan, warned that worsening hunger, mass returns from Iran and Pakistan, internal displacement, natural disasters, conflict, and a prolonged drought are collectively pushing humanitarian resources to their limits.

'The world cannot look away. Severe hunger, the staggering number of returnees and mass internal displacement due to disasters, recent conflict and four years of drought are stretching limited humanitarian resources to the brink,' Damle said in the NGO's statement.

Both Iran and Pakistan have enforced criteria that Afghans must meet to remain in those countries, or face deportation. A nutrition nurse quoted by Save the Children noted that more than six million people have returned from the two countries as a result of these enforcement measures, adding significantly to the population requiring humanitarian support.

What Happens Next

Without a reversal in international funding commitments, aid organisations warn that the situation is likely to worsen through the remainder of 2026. The closure of nearly 600 health facilities means that even if funding were restored, rebuilding treatment capacity would take time — time that acutely malnourished children do not have. Observers say the international community faces a narrowing window to prevent a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe.