Attachments
Situation in numbers
- 23.7M People in need of humanitarian assistance (HNRP 2024)
- 12.3M Children in need of humanitarian assistance (HNRP 2024)
- 857,155 Children under 5 expected to need treatment for severe acute malnutrition (HNRP 2024)
- 17.9M People in need of humanitarian health assistance (HNRP 2024).
Highlights
- More than six million people accessed essential health and nutrition services at UNICEF-supported health facilities. Half of the people reached were children under five.
- 442,025 children and caregivers (50 per cent women and girls), including 663 children with disabilities, accessed prevention, risk mitigation and response child protection services.
- 50 schools in 10 provinces gained access to safe water, handwashing facilities, and newly constructed/rehabilitated latrine blocks benefiting 35,675 students (18,938 boys and 16,737 girls).
- 546,482 people (33 per cent female) were engaged on behaviour change messaging through community structures and networks.
- As of September 2024, As of September 2024, UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) appeal for children in Afghanistan is only 41 per cent funded.
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
Afghanistan remains one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with 23.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Decades of conflict, extreme climate shocks, and severe economic decline, characterized by high unemployment, have plunged millions into poverty.
The preliminary results of the Whole of Afghanistan Assessment (WoAA) conducted in August and September 2023 continue to show a precarious situation in Afghanistan. While the humanitarian response has prevented a catastrophe, the situation has not improved, with some sectors, such as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) seeing a deterioration.
In 2024, 95 per cent of households reported experiencing at least one shock in the 12 months prior to data collection, reflecting a steady increase over the past 2 years (87 per cent in 2022 to 92 per cent in 2023). Lower food prices and reduced drought have helped alleviate the effects of reduced household income, but the increased reliance on casual labor highlights growing economic vulnerability. Households are adapting to the shifting economic landscape, with non-food expenditures, especially rent, taking up a larger share of their overall expenses.
In 2024, 33 per cent of the population receives most of their income from unsustainable income sources, compared to 26 per cent in 2023. Female-headed households face worse shelter conditions than male-headed households, with more inadequate shelters and higher eviction risks due to lack of occupancy agreements. As winter nears, rural areas struggle with poor electricity and heating, while families in urban areas lack sufficient winter clothing amid reduced household incomes. In 2024, school attendance remained similar to 2023, but girls continued to have lower attendance than boys. Economic challenges have led 11 per cent of households to deprioritise schooling, up from 4 per cent in 2023. Geographic displacement also affected access to education, with recent returnees (49 per cent) and rural households (56 per cent) reporting lower access to education compared to prolonged internally displaced persons (IDPs; 59 per cent) and urban households (56 per cent). In addition, 18 per cent of households reported disruption of education due to natural hazards.
Afghanistan is also prone to epidemic-prone diseases. The epidemiological curve for acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) shows a decreasing trend since week 31 of 2024, which could be linked to the end of the summer season. Since the beginning of 2024, a total of 143,327 AWD with dehydration cases and 67 associated deaths (CFR = 0.05 per cent) were reported from 346 districts. Out of the total cases, 79,284 (55.3 per cent) were among children under five years, and 71,045 (49.6 per cent) were females. Since the beginning of 2024, 7,496 Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) have been conducted on cases of AWD with dehydration, of which 1,098 tests turned positive (positivity rate = 14.6 per cent).
The epidemiological curves of suspected measles cases show a gradually declining trend since week 26 of 2024. The trend in 2024 is higher than the trend reported in 2023 and the two-year average before the 2021-2022 outbreak period. Since the beginning of 2024, there have been a total of 51,719 suspected measles cases and 231 deaths (CFR = 0.4 per cent).(1)
(1) Afghanistan, Infectious Disease Outbreaks Situation Report (Epidemiological week #39-2024)