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Children receiving humanitarian aid in Kabul. Credit: Wanman Uthmaniyyah/Unsplash

By Maximilian Malawista
NEW YORK, Jun 23 2025 (IPS)

Afghanistan is burdened with one of the highest rates of child wasting globally, with 3.5 million children under five years suffering from a severe form of malnutrition, leaving them dangerously underweight and unable to grow or thrive.

With only five years left to meet global nutrition targets, progress remains unpromising: with only two goals, exclusive breastfeeding and reducing child obesity on track. This leaves the nation “not on course” to meet all of the nutrition-related SDGs, as outlined by the 2023 Global Nutrition Report.

Approximately 12.6 million Afghans, 27 percent of the population, were facing acute food insecurity between March and April 2025, with 1.95 million in IPC phase 4 (Emergency), and 10.64 million in phase 3 (Crisis). Additionally 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are affected by this acute malnutrition, which has been driven by “inadequate access to services, sub-optimum practices and inadequate diets due to economic decline, climate shocks, rising food prices, and poor resilience” according to UNICEF.

According to a 2024 UNICEF report on child food poverty and nutrition deprivation, Afghanistan ranked 4th globally among countries with the highest rates of child poverty.

Nine out of ten young children in Afghanistan, or approximately 2.1 million, live in food poverty, which is leading to stunted growth and development. In this same age group, for one out of every two children (1.2 million children), diets were subsisting of no more than two food groups, “typically cereals and, at times, some milk, day in and day out”. Inadequate dietary requirements has caused 47 percent of young children in Afghanistan to suffer from stunting, with only 14.8 percent consuming five or more food groups. As a result, over 5 million children have been affected by stunted growth (IPC AMN).

While malnutrition is still significant, the UN has made progress in “scaling up the prevention and management of child nutrition in Afghanistan”. About 6.5 million children with wasting have received treatment over the last 3 years. Additionally over 10 million children and their caregivers were receiving preventive nutrition services. This has been marked as an achievement, highlighting “the impact of sustained and focused action, supported by adequate funding”.

A System of Rebuilding:

In Afghanistan, a shepherd guides his flock through barren land. Credit: Unsplash/Mustafa

An investment in nutrition has been found to yield a high return investment, benefiting social, health, and economic systems. For every 1 dollar spent on addressing undernutrition and child wasting, a return of 23 dollars is generated. Malnutrition accounts for USD 2.1 trillion in annual productivity losses, a margin of 2 percent of the global GDP.

To address the remainder of global nutrition targets in Afghanistan, UN agencies such as UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), have called for a “coordinated, multisectoral action to nutrition”. Involving “strengthening food, agriculture, health and nutrition, water and sanitation” and even offering “social protection and education systems” in the fight to prevent, detect, and treat child wasting along with early forms of malnutrition.

In the report Nourishing Afghanistan: A UN Call to Accelerate Nutrition Action, the UN outlined a 10-step strategy to meet the global nutrition targets, in an attempt to combat malnutrition and its side effects. These include:

1. Strengthen strategies to address malnutrition
2. Ensure Access to Essential Preventive Maternal and Child Nutrition Services
3. Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition
4. Tackle Child Food Poverty and population food insecurity by Improving
Access to Healthy, Nutritious Diets through strengthening Food Systems
5. Integrated Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) and
climate-sensitive, multisectoral resilience building Initiatives
6. Strengthen Social Protection Systems
7. Increase Nutritional Education & Awareness
8. Leverage Data and evidence for Nutrition Action in Afghanistan
9. Investing on Nutrition in Afghanistan
10. Multisectoral Coordination

One such initiative, ‘First Foods Afghanistan‘, offers a direct systems-based response, linking food, water and sanitation health (WASH), education, health and social protection systems in order to deliver nutritious “first foods” for every child in Afghanistan.

The initiative looks to improve young children’s diets. Dr. Tajudeen Oyewale, the UNICEF Representative for Afghanistan said: “Afghanistan should not only be growing food—it must now grow nutrition. We are shifting the focus from calories to nourishment through child sensitive food systems, and from addressing malnutrition solely through services to also prioritizing the actual foods young children consume. This integrated approach is the only sustainable path to breaking the cycle of malnutrition and poverty in Afghanistan.”

Initiatives like First Foods Afghanistan have played a vital role in the strategy to combat the nutrition deficit in some of the country’s most impoverished regions. This accelerated action becomes even more critical as the brunt of the crisis is mostly affecting women and children, creating non-optimal conditions for growth and development.

As John AYLIEFF, WFP Country Director for Afghanistan warned: “Women and children bear the brunt of the hunger crisis in Afghanistan, where four out of five families cannot afford minimally nutritious diets.” He added: “Without sustained food assistance, millions of Afghans will descend into deeper hunger and acute malnutrition.”

IPS UN Bureau

 

A Nemzeti Kutatási, Fejlesztési és Innovációs Alapból meghirdetett pályázati felhívás céljai: a hazai és külföldi kutatóintézetek közötti mélyreható csere és együttműködés előmozdítása közös laboratóriumok – mint nyílt és befogadó tudományos kutatási kommunikációs platformok – létrehozásával, hosszú távú, stabil kutatási partnerségek kialakítása, a kutatási képességek közös fejlesztése, továbbá a globális tudományos kihívások kezelése.

A Nemzeti Kutatási, Fejlesztési és Innovációs Alapból meghirdetett pályázati felhívás céljai: a hazai és külföldi kutatóintézetek közötti mélyreható csere és együttműködés előmozdítása közös laboratóriumok – mint nyílt és befogadó tudományos kutatási kommunikációs platformok – létrehozásával, hosszú távú, stabil kutatási partnerségek kialakítása, a kutatási képességek közös fejlesztése, továbbá a globális tudományos kihívások kezelése.

L'animatrice béninoise Sonia Annick Agbantou n'est plus. Son décès a été annoncé ce lundi 23 juin 2025.

Animatrice et présentatrice live depuis plusieurs années, Sonia Annick Agbantou est passée de vie à trépas. Les circonstances de son décès annoncé ce lundi 23 juin ne sont pas encore connues.

Diplômée en communication, elle est une passionnée du digital. Sonia Agbantou a sa page Facebook Sonia TV où elle partage ses expériences avec sa communauté. Elle se présente comme un coach de vie.

A.A.A

Après quelques années à la tête de la Communauté des Etats de l'Afrique de l'ouest (CEDEAO), le président nigérian, Bola Ahmed Tinubu a passé le témoin à son homologue sierra-léonais, Julius Madda Bio, élus pars ses pairs dimanche 22 juin 2025 à Abuja.

Election d'un nouveau président de la CEDEAO. Les chefs d'Etats et de gouvernement de l'organisation ont porté leur choix sur le Sierra-léonais Julius Maada Bio. C'était à l'occasion des travaux d'une session ordinaire tenue à Abuja, dimanche 22 juin 2025.
Dans le discours prononcé après son élection, le nouveau président en exercice de la CEDAO a annoncé ses priorités à la tête de l'organisation sous régionale. Il s'agit du rétablissement de l'ordre constitutionnel, du renforcement de la sécurité régionale et de l'accélération de l'intégration économique. Il n'a pas occulté les menaces croissantes dans la sous-région, et marquées entre autres par la montée du terrorisme, l'instabilité politique, le trafic d'armes, et les crimes organisés.

F. A. A.

Un camion transportant de l'essence de contrebande a pris feu ce dimanche 22 juin 2025, vers 4 heures du matin à Mowodani, commune d'Adja-Ouèrè dans le département du Plateau.

Un camion d'essence frelatée circulant sur l'axe inter-États reliant Adja-Ouèrè à Pobè a pris feu suite à l'éclatement d'un de ses pneus.

Le feu s'est rapidement propagé, ravageant le camion et paralysant la circulation pendant plusieurs heures sur cette route très empruntée.

Le conducteur et son apprenti se trouvaient à bord du véhicule. À l'arrivée des secours, trois corps calcinés ont été retrouvés, dont deux coincés sous le camion renversé.

Le drame s'est produit ce dimanche 22 juin 2025, vers 4 heures du matin.
M. M.

Déployée le 2 juin 2025 par l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), la mission d'information sur la situation en République démocratique du Congo (RDC) a terminé ses visites, après Kinshasa et Kigali, par une étape à Lomé (République togolaise), dont elle est rentrée le 19 juin.

La mission d'information de la Francophonie a tenu des échanges intenses pendant cette tournée, afin de marquer la solidarité de l'OIF et d'aborder la situation sécuritaire, humanitaire et sociale dans l'Est de la RDC. Les discussions de haut niveau menées avec les autorités gouvernementales, la société civile, particulièrement les femmes et les jeunes, ainsi que les partenaires internationaux, ont permis de dégager une meilleure compréhension de la situation, tout en identifiant des pistes concrètes qui permettraient un renforcement de l'engagement de l'OIF, dans le cadre de son mandat et de sa programmation.

Rappelant que la coexistence en harmonie et en paix est au cœur de la Francophonie, la délégation a également évoqué les perspectives des processus de médiation en cours et réitéré le soutien de la Francophonie à ces efforts.

A cet égard, la dernière étape à Lomé, les 17 et 18 juin, a offert l'opportunité à la mission d'information de s'entretenir avec le représentant du Président du Conseil du Togo, Médiateur de l'Union africaine dans la crise dans l'Est de la RDC, en la personne de S.E.Pr. Robert Dussey, ministre des Affaires étrangères, de l'Intégration régionale et des Togolais de l'extérieur. La délégation lui a exprimé le soutien de la Francophonie et discuté des possibilités d'appui aux actions de médiation.

Pour rappel, la mission s'est tenue dans le cadre du suivi actif par l'OIF de la situation en RDC, notamment en ce qui concerne le conflit dans l'Est du pays. En réponse à l'appel de la RDC à la solidarité de la Francophonie, la Secrétaire générale de la Francophonie avait décidé d'envoyer une mission d'information menée par les États membres. Conduite par Muriel Berset Kohen, Ambassadrice, Représentante personnelle de la Présidente de la Confédération suisse auprès du Conseil permanent de la Francophonie, la délégation était composée de représentants de la Côte d'Ivoire, du Maroc et du Togo. Son principe avait été entériné par les Chefs d'État et de gouvernement membres lors de leur XIXe Sommet, à Villers-Cotterêts, en octobre 2024.

L'OIF compte 93 États et gouvernements : 56 membres, 5 membres associés et 32 observateurs.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, briefing reporters outside the Security Council chamber on June 21, said: “I am gravely alarmed by the use of force by the United States against Iran today,” reiterating there is no military solution. “This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security.” Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

By Norman Solomon
SAN FRANCISCO, USA, Jun 23 2025 (IPS)

Twenty years ago, one day in June 2005, I talked with an Iranian man who was selling underwear at the Tehran Grand Bazaar. People all over the world want peace, he said, but governments won’t let them have it.

I thought of that conversation on Saturday night after the U.S. government attacked nuclear sites in Iran. For many days before that, polling clearly showed that most Americans did not want the United States to attack Iran.

“Only 16 percent of Americans think the U.S. military should get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran,” YouGov pollsters reported, while “60 percent say it should not and 24 percent are not sure.”

But as a practical matter, democracy has nothing to do with the chokehold that the warfare state has on the body politic. That reality has everything to do with why the United States can’t kick the war habit. And that’s why the profound quests for peace and genuine democracy are so tightly intertwined.

On Saturday evening, President Trump delivered a speech exuding might-makes-right thuggery on a global scale: “There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days.”

More than ever, the United States and Israel are overt partners in what the Nuremberg Tribunal in 1946 called “the supreme international crime” – “planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression.”

Naturally, the perpetrators of the supreme international crime are eager to festoon themselves in mutual praise. As Trump put it in his speech, “I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before.” And Trump added: “I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they’ve done.”

A grisly and nefarious truth is that, in effect, the Israeli military functions as part of the overall U.S. military machine. The armed forces of each country have different command structures and sometimes have tactical disagreements.

But in the Middle East, from Gaza and Iran to Lebanon and Syria, “cooperation” does not begin to describe how closely and with common purpose they work together.

More than 20 months into Israel’s U.S.-armed siege of Gaza, the genocide there continues as a joint American-Israeli project. It is a project that would have been literally impossible to sustain without the weapons and bombs that the U.S. government has continued to provide to the Orwellian-named Israel Defense Forces.

The same U.S.-Israel alliance that has been committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza has also enabled the escalation of KKK-like terrorizing and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people in the West Bank. The ethnocentric arrogance and racism involved in U.S. support for these crimes have been longstanding, and worsening along with the terrible events.

The same alliance is now also terrorizing Iranian society from the air.

As we have seen yet again in recent hours, the political and media culture of the United States is heavily inclined toward glorifying the use of the USA’s second-to-none destructive air power. As if above it all. The conceit of American exceptionalism assumes that “we” have the sanctified moral ground to proceed in the world with a basic de facto message powered by military might: Do as we say, not as we do.

While all this is going on, the word “surreal” is apt to be heard. But a much more fitting word is “real.”

“People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction,” James Baldwin wrote, “and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster.”

Now, people in the United States have real-time historic opportunities – to do everything we can to take nonviolent action demanding that the U.S. government end its monstrous role in the Middle East.

Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. The paperback edition of his latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, includes an afterword about the Gaza war.

IPS UN Bureau

 

The US airforce has dropped 'bunker buster' bombs on Iranian nuclear sites. The extent of the damage inflicted is not yet clear, particularly with regard to the Fordo facility, which is surrounded by mountains. The aim of operation, which was ordered by President Donald Trump, was to incapacitate the Iranian nuclear weapons programme, whose existence Iran denies. Europe's press assesses the situation.

The Hague is on tenterhooks in the run-up to the Nato summit that begins on Tuesday. The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez surprised everyone by announcing that his country was rejecting the US demand to raise defence spending to 5 percent of GDP. As a result, Spain has been singled out from the 32 Nato members and granted an exemption. Europe's media are impressed by Spain's bold stance.

After four weeks of negotiations with parliamentary parties, Romania's new President Nicușor Dan has nominated the pro-European politician Ilie Bolojan as prime minister. He described Bolojan as "the person best fit to carry out the necessary reforms of the Romanian state apparatus". The liberal politician has yet to be confirmed by parliament. Commentators discuss the tasks he faces.