Afghanistan
Emergency

Nelab*, 22, lives with her extended family, 11-month-old daughter named Parsto*, and two-year-old son named Mohammad* in a remote community in the Sar-e-Pul province of Afghanistan. Their mudbrick home sits on the side of a hill overlooking a large dry riverbed. The nearest health facility is a six-hour walk from their community. Nelab*s family survives on farming and has been hit hard by Afghanistan’s worst drought in decades. Nelab* says that there has been very little rain and that even if they plant something, nothing ever grows. She says that the price of food has increased as a consequence and now they can only afford one meal a week – normally soup without meat – and the rest of the time they eat bread. Nelab*s children have all suffered from severe acute malnutrition. Her three-year-old daughter, Maryam*, tragically died because she was so weak from hunger. Save the Children’s health workers discovered Maryam* on the first day they started a mobile clinic in Nelab*s community. They organised for her to go straight to the hospital, but she died on the way. Looking forward, Nelab* dreams of enrolling her two children in school. She hopes that Mohammad* and Parsto* won’t have a life like hers. With support from the European Union (EU), Save the Children has been treating Nelab*s two children, Parsto* and Mohammad* for malnutrition at the mobile clinic, which visits their community regularly. Mohammad* has now recovered, but Parsto* is still severely malnourished and is being treated with therapeutic peanut paste, which provides malnourished children with essential vitamins, minerals, and calories to help them survive and recover. Parsto* will be closely monitored each week and if she doesn’t improve, Save the Children will refer her for higher level care. Sacha Myers / Save the Children

Anonymised photos of children living in Afghanistan, to be used in communications from August 2021.

Save the Children is running more than 3,300 community-based education classes across Afghanistan to support children who don’t have access to formal schools. These classes don’t only develop children’s numeracy and literacy skills, they also offer a place of refuge, which is critical for children who have faced traumatic experiences in this crisis. We’re also providing classes specifically tailored for visual and hearing-impaired children and accelerated learning classes to help those who have missed out on months or years of education, to catch up. Girls in Afghanistan have missed out on millions of days of learning since the Taliban took control in August 2021. According to an assessment conducted by Save the Children in November and December 2021, nearly 40 percent of girls aged 10-18 were out of school, compared to 25 percent of boys. It’s estimated that almost 8 million school-aged children need support to access education right now in Afghanistan - an increase from 2.6 million compared to last year. Insecurity, poverty, cultural traditions, poor infrastructure, inadequate learning materials and a lack of qualified female and male teachers are continuing barriers to children accessing education. Save the Children and other organisations are working hard to equip schools and teachers, but the needs are huge, and more support is urgently needed to help children stay in school. Sacha Myers / Save the Children