Afghanistan > Our action today · Humanitarian situation · Viewpoint

Afghanistan needs a humanitarian boost

In this country, victim of violence and governance issues, innocent populations are the first to suffer and a real “humanitarian boost” aimed at benefitting the most vulnerable is necessary.

Ranked 181st of 182 countries according to the 2009 index in the UNDP Human Development Report, Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. The increase in staple food prices, recurring droughts affecting harvests and the degradation of the security situation have further exacerbated a disastrous situation after nearly 30 years of war. Families spend the majority of their income on food, yet more than 30% of Afghans are unable to meet their nutritional needs, 24% of breast-feeding women are malnourished and at least 50% of children are underweight.

Furthermore, 78% of the Afghan population has no access to drinking water*. Their bodies, weakened by hunger and the cold, are succumbing quicker to waterborne diseases in a country where life expectancy is only 44 years… the infant mortality rate is one of the highest in the world (135 per 1,000 according to UNICEF in 2007) and death from waterborne diseases is particularly affecting children under five.
Despite the increase in violence and governance issues, SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL, present in Afghanistan for nearly 30 years, reiterates the crucial need to strongly pursue humanitarian action in favor of the most destitute Afghans, who are the first victims of this situation. A real “humanitarian boost” and the mobilization of all necessary means for international humanitarian aid in Afghanistan are indispensable in order to achieve this.
SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL is implementing humanitarian aid which responds to the diversity of needs, in both urban (Kabul) and rural zones: programs for access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in the peripheral and impoverished suburbs of Kabul, programs for access to drinking water and sanitation in rural zones, and integrated support programs for agriculture and livestock farming to bolster food security for the most vulnerable rural populations.