Attachments
Highlights
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The number of people in need has risen from 28.3 million to 28.8 million people mainly due to an increase in the number of people requiring protection services.
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As the weather warms, cases of acute watery diarrhoea continue to increase impacting vulnerable children. Urgent funding is needed for emergency health activities and for water, sanitation, and hygiene activities to reduce the risks of further increases.
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3.4 million children received vitamin A supplements through National Immunisation Day campaigns.
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573,000 children (59 per cent girls) accessed education in nearly 18,000 community-based education classes in 30 provinces.
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55,400 households in Jawzjan and 2,700 households in Nuristan received cash assistance to facilitate girls’ enrolment in school.
Situation in numbers
28.8 M people in need of humanitarian assistance (Revised HRP 2023)
15.2 M children in need of humanitarian assistance (HNO 2023)
875,000 children under 5 expected to need treatment for severe acute malnutrition (HNO 2023)
17.6 M people will need humanitarian health assistance (HNO 2023).
Funding Overview and Partnerships
As of 31 May, the 2023 UNICEF Afghanistan Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) appeal is 28 per cent funded. This includes flexible emergency funding from both public and private partners, which enables UNICEF to utilise resources to respond to rising and sudden needs. UNICEF is grateful to France; the European Union (ECHO); the Islamic Development Bank as trustee of the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund, with contributions from King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center; and the extensive family of National Committees for UNICEF for the contributions that were received in May. Furthermore, UNICEF extends special appreciation to Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United States of America, as well as individual donors that contributed core resources to UNICEF globally. UNICEF will continue to partner with donors to ensure sufficient resources are mobilised to address the needs of children and communities in Afghanistan. Urgent and critical funding gaps threaten to affect UNICEF’s ability to reach the most vulnerable children and families with lifesaving interventions especially in health, WASH, nutrition and child protection.
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
Afghanistan is highly prone to natural hazards, whose frequency and intensity are being exacerbated by the effects of climate change, increasing humanitarian needs and structural limitations in mitigating the risk of these hazards. Restrictions on women continue to impact humanitarian programmes further compounding the already dire humanitarian situation and has compounded longstanding bureaucratic impediments. Sudden-onset disasters, such as floods and earthquakes, were reported in May. On 14 May, a 4.2-magnitude earthquake was reported in Paktika Province, Gayan District, resulting in nine injuries. This district was also the epicentre of a 5.9-magnitude earthquake one year ago in June 2022, causing over 1,000 deaths, including over 120 children, and displacing more than 100,000 people.
Heavy rains and flash flooding were reported in multiple provinces. On 6 May, 500 families in Kama and Goshta Districts, Nangarhar Province, were affected, resulting in four deaths and 10 injuries. Over 40 houses were also damaged due to flooding in Wardak Province. On 13 May, 32 houses were damaged in Sarbagh District, Samangan Province, and 46 families were affected in Pul-e Alm District, Logar Province. Thirty families were affected in Matoon, Gurbaz, Bak and Sabari Districts in Khost Province, and in Ghor Province, there were four deaths and 10 damaged homes.
For the last two consecutive years, drought has driven acute food and water insecurity and negatively impacted livelihoods in Afghanistan. Although food availability is expected to improve during the imminent harvest period, 35 per cent of the population, or 15.3 million people, are projected to experience Crisis and Emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 and 4) from May to October 2023. Whilst this is an improvement as compared to the same period last year, the situation is expected to worsen in the future as emerging threats such as the Moroccan Locust outbreak and other plant pests and animal diseases pose a threat to the already fragile food insecurity and livelihoods situation. Precipitation was also far below average from October 2022 to April 2023. In the Western and Southern Regions, water stress continues, with Ghoryan and Adraskan Districts in Herat Province and Muqur and Qadis Districts in Badghis Province most affected.
Disease outbreaks continued in several provinces. The national epidemiological curve shows an increasing trend in the number of acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) cases with dehydration since epi-week 10. Cumulatively, between January to May, a total of 59,526 AWD cases with dehydration and 30 deaths (case fatality rate of 0.05 per cent) were reported from 316 districts in 34 provinces. Most of the suspected cases (84.7 per cent) were reported in 12 provinces. Cumulatively, the highest number of AWD cases with dehydration were reported from Kabul (18,429), followed by Helmand (7,614) and Baghlan Provinces (4,757).