In our complex world humanitarian crises are becoming all too regular with some regions sadly experiencing compounding tragedies. During times like these hope may seem in short supply, but taking action, no matter what it may entail can stem the tide of hopelessness and effect real and meaningful change. YOUR generosity gives hope and changes lives in Afghanistan, and for that, we are forever grateful. We are pleased to share with you the impact of your kindness.
Your support in 2022 allowed us to provide $190,000 to programs providing education, healthcare, resettlement/refugee assistance to women and children in Afghanistan, and emergency aid to vulnerable Afghans in Afghanistan.
To date this year, your support has provided over $289,000 in humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. Included in this is emergency aid to help alleviate widespread food insecurity, which is expected to impact more than half the population in Afghanistan, as well as provide essential healthcare services.
The World Food Programme estimates that two-thirds of Afghanistan's population requires humanitarian assistance, millions are experiencing acute food insecurity, and over three million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished. The need has never been greater for families in Afghanistan, but your generosity has allowed us to help support these families by providing essential humanitarian services.
The above photo was taken at Médicins Sans Frontières' (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders' Inpatient Therapeutic Feeding Centre at Herat Regional Hospital. MSF established this facility in direct response to the hunger crisis in Afghanistan and to treat children who were not in need of hospitalization, but who urgently required specialized nutritional care.
Meet a family whose lives were impacted by the life-saving work MSF provides through its therapeutic feeding program, as told by MSF staff:
"The family was poor and struggled to find food while the young mother was pregnant. This is the situation for many families now—there are no jobs and everything in the market is very expensive. People also have very limited access to information on health or parenting, so when their child is severely sick, they sometimes don’t know what to do or where to go.
When the baby was born, the young mother became very weak and couldn’t breastfeed. The baby girl was malnourished from the very first day of her life.
Although we treated many patients for about three weeks, this child has now been with us in the feeding center for three months. She is still weak, but we hope she will improve with our care."
Undoubtedly, the care MSF provided changed the trajectory of this baby girl's life and provided her and her family with the hope that she would be able to experience life beyond her first year. According to MSF, the average stay for a child in its therapeutic treatment centers around the world is five to seven days, however in Afghanistan, the average stay is around two weeks, and in many instances far longer. MSF also reports that babies under six months old make up a substantial number of its malnourished patients in the region. The length of stay and number of infants being treated give a small snapshot into how pervasive the hunger crisis is in Afghanistan. The work they are doing is quite literally saving lives.
The amount of need that exists in the world today can seem daunting, but hope gives light where there is darkness, and in Afghanistan, even the smallest of actions can change lives. We hope we can count on you again this year to give aid and provide hope to some of the most vulnerable in the world, women and children in Afghanistan.
"Be a river in generosity and giving help."
-Rumi
Photo credit: Top to Bottom: UNICEF/Frank Dejongh, MSF/ Sandra Calligaro, MSF/ Sandra Calligaro, UNHCR/Oxygen Film Studio (Afg)