As Hunger Spreads in Afghanistan, Hospitals Fill with Premature, Dying Babies

January 28, 2022

(Wall Street Journal) – She was the latest victim of Afghanistan’s economic collapse caused by the Taliban takeover in August and the punishing Western sanctions that followed. Half of the population faces acute hunger, according to the United Nations, with one million children in danger of dying from malnutrition. The economy is set to contract by another 20% this year, following last year’s plunge, the U.N. says. The Wardak provincial hospital’s director in Maidan Shahr, Muhammad Nadir Rahmani, said the hospital is seeing the birth weight of babies reduce alarmingly, as the bodies of malnourished mothers are unable to carry their children to full term. Babies born weighing under 1 kilogram, or about 2.2 pounds, have no better than a 30% chance of survival, he said. (Read More)