Afghanistan is currently experiencing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with the health system and social services at a breaking point, UNICEF's representative in Afghanistan Salam Al-Janabi told Sputnik.

Early this year, the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan was already one of the worst in the world, with nearly half of the country's population—including some 10 million children—having been in need of humanitarian aid, the UNICEF representative said.

"Due to the recent events and the economic shocks the country has been experiencing, more families are pushed to the brink," he said. "More than half of Afghanistan's population is projected to face acute hunger as humanitarian needs grow to record levels. As food insecurity spikes in Afghanistan, so does severe acute malnutrition amongst children under five years old."

Without immediate action, an estimated 1 million children are projected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition over the course of this year, and could die, the representative warned.

The UNICEF representative noted that the current humanitarian funding requirement for Afghanistan stands at $192 million.

"This figure will certainly increase as the needs continue to grow. Of the $192 million UNICEF's donors have funded around 70% of the needed support," Al-Janabi said. "We urge donors to maintain their humanitarian and development investments in Afghanistan so that the hard-fought gains over the past decades are not lost."