UK helps Afghanistan with £10m drought aid package

30 Jul 18

The UK has announced a new £10m aid package to help more than a million people in Afghanistan living at risk from drought.

The secretary for international development Penny Mordaunt announced the support, which will contribute to emergency food supplies in response to a United Nations appeal, last week.

As a result of extremely low levels of rainfall and a major heatwave, the drought in Afghanistan is now classified as ‘severe’.

It will provide immediate food and nutrition aid for 441,000 people who are already in a critical situation as well as 1.4 million people until early next year by helping to replenish stockpiles of food.

Mordaunt said: “The drought in Afghanistan is an unfolding crisis, with 1.4 million people’s lives at risk when this year’s harvest fails in a number of provinces in a matter of weeks.

“The UK continues to stand by the government of Afghanistan and we have taken decisive actions to step in early before the worst of the drought strikes to help prevent needless pain and suffering.”

The Department for International Development also called on other countries to join the international efforts, coordinated by the UN and the government of Afghanistan.

The £10m package consists of £1.44m from the existing humanitarian budget and £8.55m from the DfID Afghanistan country budget for 2018/19.

It will be delivered in partnership with the World Food Programme in support of the Afghanistan Humanitarian Response Plan.

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