Aid supporting hundreds of thousands of people in the country

More than £50 million has been raised by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal for Afghanistan.

The group brings together 15 major humanitarian charities to respond to major emergencies around the world, and launched the appeal on 14 December last year.

The DEC said its appeal was supporting hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan, where drought, economic collapse and rising global food prices had pushed millions of people to the brink of famine.

It said 18.9 million people, almost half the population, were estimated to be acutely food insecure, while 3.9m children were acutely malnourished.

The DEC said the £50m total, which includes £10m from the UK government, had been used in areas including helping more than 243,000 people with cash assistance, such as to buy food or medicines, assisting more than 131,000 people with emergency food supplies and helping more than 100,000 people with health services such as vaccines and newborn care.

It said 13 of its member charities, including ActionAid UK, the British Red Cross, Christian Aid and Islamic Relief Worldwide, were responding to the crisis in Afghanistan, either directly or through national affiliates and local partners.

Salah Saeed, chief executive of the DEC, said: “People in Afghanistan suffered a terrible winter and spring with millions struggling to feed their families.

“Thank you so much to everyone who donated to this appeal. You have made a huge difference to so many people caught up in a crisis far beyond their control and desperately in need of help.”