Families in Afghanistan are being forced to sell their young daughters as hunger, poverty and unemployment continue to worsen across the country.
In Ghor Province, one of the country’s worst affected regions, desperate parents say they have been left with no choice as food shortages and a lack of work push families to the brink of starvation.
Abdul Rashid Azimi, a father living near the provincial capital, Chaghcharan, says he is considering selling one of his seven-year-old twin daughters so the rest of his family can survive.
Azimi says that if he sells one daughter, he could feed his family for at least four years.
Another father, Saeed Ahmad says he sold his five-year-old daughter to a relative to pay for life-saving surgery after she developed appendicitis and a liver cyst.
The child is expected to later marry into the relative’s family.
According to the United Nations, nearly three out of four Afghans cannot meet their basic needs, while around 4.7 million people are estimated to be one step away from famine.
Many residents say their children are going to bed hungry for days at a time.
The worsening humanitarian crisis has been linked to rising unemployment, severe drought and major cuts in international aid.
The United States, which was Afghanistan’s biggest donor, cut most aid to the country last year, while several other donor nations have also reduced assistance.
Hospitals in the region are also struggling with rising numbers of malnourished children, shortages of medicine and increasing child deaths.
Medical workers say some families are being forced to take critically ill babies home because they cannot afford treatment.
Source: BBC News
