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The COVID-19 pandemic has particularly impacted women and children’s health in Afghanistan, putting many at severe risk of malnutrition. In order to help improve uptake of services for malnutrition at community level, Action for Development has launched a new project […]

UNAMA, Kabul – The number of Afghan civilians killed and injured in the conflict has failed to slow since the start of intra-Afghan peace talks.

2020 was supposed to be a once-in-a-generation opportunity for women and girls. The year when governments, businesses, organisations, and individuals came together to develop a five-year plan to accelerate progress for #GenerationEquality. Then COVID19 struck. Now, unless the world acts fast, 2020 risks being a year of irreversible setbacks and lost progress for girls.

On #WorldPolioDay we need to reach every last child in Afghanistan with the polio vaccine, to eradicate the disease.

At every life stage, micronutrients are crucial to immune system function and resilience to infectious disease. This brief makes the case for large scale staple food fortification as a critically important tool to fight malnutrition in general, and even more so during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, according to United Nations data. Some 638 women die per 100,000 live births. Poverty, lack of access to health services and gender inequality all contribute to these tragically high numbers; fewer than 60 per cent of births are overseen by skilled health professionals.

The number of people experiencing ‘severe food insecurity’ is now estimated at 17 million in the war-torn country

UN Women, UNICEF and Human Rights Watch joint­ly issue this fifteenth alert to continue to highlight the gender specific impact of COVID-19 in Afghanistan. This alert focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandem­ic on women and girls’ education and the long-lasting consequences it will have on gender equality, women’s human rights and Afghanistan’s development and peace efforts.

According to 2017 data, some 35 per cent of Afghan women aged 20 to 24 reported they were married while still children. On International Day of the Girl Child, 11 October, we need to amplify the voices and rights of girls everywhere. The theme for this year, “My voice, our equal future”, reimagines a better world inspired and led by adolescent girls, as part of the global #GenerationEquality movement. Girls worldwide are demanding a life free from gender-based violence, access to health, skills, recognition and investment as leaders of social change.