The United Kingdom on Monday announced a new aid assistance of £25 million for drought-hit Afghans.
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt announced the aid and expressed UK’s readiness to provide vital food, shelter and clean water to Afghans affected by one of the worst droughts the country has ever faced.
A statement from the British embassy also quoted her as urging other donors to “step up alongside UK and join the international efforts to support some of the world’s most vulnerable people and avoid a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Mordaunt said: “This deadly drought is already affecting millions of Afghans, many of whom have had to leave their homes and livelihoods in desperate search of basic necessities.”
This aid comes apart from the £10 million provided to the drought response by DFID earlier this year, bringing DFID’s total spend on the humanitarian response in Afghanistan to £67 million, the statement said.
The aid package provided by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) will “Provide tents and urgent relief items for up to 260,000 people who have fled their homes ahead of a bitter severe winter
Provide 602,660 people with food or cash transfers to buy essential items, with a monthly ration of special nutritious food to prevent malnutrition in young children for every household
Provide drought affected people with access to healthcare, clean water and sanitation so they can remain in their homes over winter.”
On Sunday, UN official Toby Lanzer spoke in Geneva about the severe situation in Afghanistan regarding drought and how it is “one step away from a famine.”
