Afghanistan and South Sudan grapple with surging malnutrition and collapsing health services

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reports a sharp rise in severe acute malnutrition among children in southern Afghanistan. Between January and April 2026, admissions to its inpatient therapeutic feeding centre increased by over 30 % compared with the same period in the previous three years, with more than 1,500 severely malnourished children treated – more than double the 2022 total. The surge reflects worsening food insecurity, drought‑linked crop losses, reduced international funding and disrupted supply chains.

In eastern South Sudan, MSF has resumed emergency care in Akobo after months of fighting left the town stripped of services. More than 100,000 displaced residents have returned to a town where all 15 health facilities were looted and the teaching hospital lost electricity, equipment and medicine. Within the first month of reopening, MSF treated over 600 patients, provided 5,106 outpatient consultations and recorded 30 deliveries, while 36 % of children screened were malnourished, including 15 % with severe acute malnutrition. MSF calls for urgent scaling up of water, sanitation, food assistance and full restoration of health services in both regions.