A year after the Taliban takeover, babies are dying of hunger in Afghanistan
- Samera, seven months old, is a victim of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan
- Acute malnutrition is one of the leading causes of death for children under the age of five there
- Temor, 12, is her brother and lives with his mother Sonia, 36, and two brothers
Seven-month-old Samera’s dark, saucer-like eyes stare out while a nurse gently rocks her head and cleanses her desperately weak body.
She is one of the innocent victims of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and is among many suffering from the effects of severe acute malnutrition, one of the leading killers of children under the age of five.
Her 12-year-old brother Temor is worried and feels helpless.
“I would like some bread and milk for my little sister,” he says. “My mother and father are unemployed and we have nothing to eat or drink. Sometimes we can find bread and sometimes not.”
Seven-month-old Samera is one of the innocent victims of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan
Temor lives with his mother Sonia, 36, two brothers and Samera in a one-room house in a remote community in northern Afghanistan.
Samera’s father went to Iran to look for work, but they didn’t get any money.
Samera weighs just 8 pounds and her lifeline has been the mobile health center – one of 66 run by Save the Children in the country – where she is fed a special peanut-based paste that provides her with essential vitamins.
Grocery prices have skyrocketed and there is little or no adult work, but Temor says: “I wish I was older so I could work and make money. I wish I could go to the mosque and to school.
“We want our situation to improve. We want water here.’