The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
May 4, 2020

Children in Afghanistan Facing Severe Hunger Risk Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Afghanistan, health officials warn the new coronavirus could be
spreading at an alarming rate, after a small study suggested about a
third of residents in the capital Kabul could be infected. So far,
Afghanistan has not been among countries most severely affected by the
virus. At least 2,700 cases and 85 deaths have been confirmed, but the
true numbers are expected to be much higher as testing has remained
limited.

This comes as a new report by Save the Children finds that over 7
million children in Afghanistan are at risk of hunger. Millions were
already facing food shortages, but the coronavirus caused food prices to
soar and stripped many day laborers of their livelihoods. Save the
Children said, "We are deeply concerned that this pandemic will lead to
a perfect storm of hunger, disease and death in Afghanistan unless the
world takes action now."


.