UNICEF: 1 million Afghan children face life-threatening malnutrition

3.7 million children suffer acute malnutrition.

Oyewale said 1 million of them have severe acute malnutrition with a risk of death.

Oyewale said that without treatment and rapid intervention, that million children risk dying.

Millions of Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan.

About 40 percent of the admitted children were younger than six months.

WFP says nearly 14 million Afghans suffer acute hunger out of a population of more than 45 million.

In parts of southern Afghanistan some hospitals now have three or four severely malnourished children per available bed.

Children in severely food-insecure households can be up to six times more likely to waste in peak periods.

UNICEF said the crisis is not only about the quantity of food available.

UNICEF said more than half a million children have been admitted to health centres for wasting this year.

Half of Afghanistan's children live in severe child food poverty, eating two or fewer food groups a day.

UNICEF said more than 100 centres treating severely malnourished children have already closed this year for lack of money.

Oyewale said children under two represent more than 80% of severe acute malnutrition cases.

He said SAM cases in children with medical complications have risen by more than one third this year.

Several drought years have been followed by heavy rain and flash floods.

Those climate shocks are expected to increase because of El Niño.

UNICEF's Afghanistan nutrition programme needs about $180 million this year.

It has only 22% of the funding needed so far.

Aid cuts have contributed to a sharpening of the situation.

Families are cutting back on nutritious food and meals are becoming smaller.

Children's first food beyond breast milk may be little more than bread with tea or watered-down yoghurt.

Hundreds of other centres have lost their funding.

Oyewale said children can be trapped in a cycle of poor nourishment, diarrhoea or respiratory infection, then worse malnutrition.

The nutrition sector in Afghanistan faces a 57% funding gap.

Regional instability and cross-border trade disruptions are also compounding the problems.

UNICEF said early action not only saves lives but is more cost-effective than waiting for dangerous stages that need intensive treatment.

Treatment for malnutrition can save lives.

UNICEF called on the international community for urgent, flexible, sustained funding to save Afghan children.

Oyewale said children often relapse if they return home to the same conditions.

Oyewale said responders should not wait until a child is dangerously thin in a hospital bed before acting.

UNICEF said the causes are varied.