While new crises are calling for the world’s attention, millions of young children in Afghanistan are fading from hunger.
Unicef chief Catherine Russell tells TT about her visit to a packed and very quiet hospital room:
– The babies are too weak to even cry.
Poverty in Afghanistan is on the rise and tens of millions of people are at risk of being left without anything to eat. During the spring, there have been repeated reports of parents being forced to sell their children in order to get something to eat.
About 1.1 million children under the age of five are estimated to be suffering from the deadliest form of malnutrition, according to the UN Children’s Fund Unicef. In that state, their bodies’ immune systems stop working and in the end they can not absorb any nutrients at all.
When the American Catherine Russell took over as UNICEF’s top manager in February, she first traveled to Afghanistan, where she visited hospitals with many small patients.
– I have seen many things in my career, but it was one of the worst I have ever seen. These babies fade away completely, she tells TT during a visit to Sweden.
“Incredibly serious”
Before the United States left Afghanistan last year, about 80 percent of the country’s budget consisted of international aid. When the Taliban took power, most countries, including Sweden, stopped all support that went through the Afghan state.
Catherine Russell has been to Afghanistan earlier in her career as a US official, but that was before the change of power.
– Now I was worried about what happens with the education and especially girls’ education. And it is a serious problem, I want to emphasize that, but when I got there I also found a completely unbelievably serious problem with the food supply, she says.
Poverty in Afghanistan is rising and almost every inhabitant is expected to fall below the poverty line this year.
Daily wage for potatoes
– It is a strange situation when you drive down the street and see stalls with fruits and vegetables. But people have no money and can not buy anything, says Russell.
– I met a woman who was 25 years old, but of course she looked like 50. She has five children and took me to her home which was, I can hardly say it, a kind of clay hut. She explained to me that her husband worked for a daily wage and if he finds a job, they can buy some potatoes that she cooks for the children. Otherwise, they basically feed on bread.
In the work with malnourished children, Unicef distributes packages with a peanut butter-like nutritional supplement, but according to the UN agency’s chief executive, more resources are needed for them to be able to distribute enough.
Simultaneous ability?
Catherine Russell is asked if she believes that the world community has sufficient resources – and sufficient ability to concentrate – to be able to help Afghanistan given all the other major crises, and not least the war in Ukraine.
– That is the central question. Ukraine is getting a lot of attention and with good reason. It is an aggression in Europe and who would have thought that we would see it again? And people living in Ukraine are significantly affected. We see that 2.5 million children have fled the country and that another million have been forced to leave their homes. They do not go to school and there are major food problems, so it deserves a lot of attention, she says.
– But it definitely draws attention from the other challenges in the world: Afghanistan, Yemen, the food crisis in the Horn of Africa … The list just goes on. The problems have only gotten worse. And now that inflation is rising, largely due to what is happening in Ukraine, food prices are rising. It will make these conflicts even more difficult to deal with.
Facts
Sweden’s aid to Afghanistan
In 2021, Sida provided a total of SEK 961.7 million in aid to various partner organizations working in Afghanistan, of which SEK 630 million went to long-term development and SEK 331.7 million to humanitarian aid.
Since the Taliban’s takeover, Sida has had no ongoing projects channeling money through the Afghan state.
Previously, there was support via the World Bank’s fund for reconstruction with the government as a partner. The World Bank has suspended these payments, but is reviewing the possibility of investing the fund’s resources in a way that benefits the Afghan people without benefiting the regime.
For 2022, the budget for long-term aid amounts to SEK 805 million and SEK 245 million has been paid out in humanitarian aid. Additional funds for the year may be added.
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Catherine Russell
Catherine Russell, 61, is the chief executive officer of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). She is basically a lawyer and took office in February 2022.
Prior to that, Russell was the head of the White House’s Personnel Office, which reviews and selects candidates for the U.S. government to fill various positions.
During Barack Obama’s presidency, she was first Chief of Staff to the then second lady of the United States, Jill Biden, who is today the country’s first lady. She was then named the United States International Ambassador for Women (2013–17).
Russell has worked for several Democratic presidential campaigns. Her husband Tom Donilon is also a veteran of Democrats. He was, among other things, the United States’ national security adviser under Barack Obama. His brother Mike Donilon, in turn, is one of President Joe Biden’s closest advisers.
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