Children dying of malnutrition in Afghanistan

KABUL: Children are dying of starvation in Afghanistan, local and international sources said Saturday, following warnings that a million youngsters there could face life-threatening malnutrition by the end of the year.

In Ghor, one of the affected provinces, at least 17 children among those who made it to hospital have died from malnutrition in the last six months, the province’s public health director Mullah Mohammad Ahmadi told AFP. Almost 300 have been treated for the effects of hunger.

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Hundreds of children are at risk of starvation in central parts of the country, he said.

A spokesman for the United Nations children’s agency in Afghanistan said he could not confirm the number of deaths in Ghor but feared “a lot of children are paying the ultimate price”.