In Numbers
18.9 million people – nearly half of the population – are estimated to be acutely food insecure between June-November 2022
4.7 million children, pregnant and lactating women at risk of acute malnutrition in 2022; 3.9 million children are acutely malnourised
All 34 provinces are facing crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity
Highlights
• WFP assisted roughly 8 million people in June. While 18 million people require assistance, funding constraints have forced WFP to drastically reduce its caseload between June and September.
• WFP continues to provide emergency food assistance and inter-agency logistics support to Paktika and Khost provinces following the deadly earthquake on 22 June. WFP requires USD 14 million to assist 362,000 people in need for two months, as per the Emergency Earthquake Response Plan.
Situation Update
• An estimated 18.9 million people in Afghanistan are acutely food insecure (IPC 3+), according to the May 2022 IPC Analysis, including 6 million in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency), and 13 million in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis). Continued humanitarian assistance in Ghor province is needed to deter IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe) conditions, which affected some 20,000 people between March and May.
• For nine months, more than 90 percent of Afghans have experienced insufficient food consumption, according to WFP’s latest Food Security Update: Round Nine (May 2022). Food insecurity among female-headed households is on the rise as nearly 100 percent experience insufficient food consumption, while the proportion of female-headed households reporting severe levels of food insecurity rose to 82 percent in May 2022 from 69 percent in April 2022.
• Recurrent drought and erratic climatic shocks are expected to result in a below average harvest in Afghanistan, which threatens to further compound the food insecurity crisis. FEWSNET data show that dry weather conditions have already resulted in reduced crop yields during the current harvest season, particularly in north and north-eastern rainfed regions.