(NOTE: This is the latest in a series of confidential conversations I am having with a young Afghan friend trapped in his country.)
Peroz, who is 6 years old, sometimes comes to the office with his father, who is my colleague. He has deep-set eyes, a haggard face, and a small, feeble body. Sometimes, he is very lethargic and has to use a needle for injecting serum into his hand. His father says the reason is that Peroz is sick. What I believe is that he is malnourished.
Sometimes when I pass through the alleys in town, I see many children like Peroz who are playing with no shoes on their feet. Their faces and hands are dirty and cracked.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, four million people are malnourished in Afghanistan, including more than 3 million children and 840,000 pregnant and lactating women. This number is increasing over time.
In my opinion, this widespread malnourishment is the result of both poverty and people's lack of nutrition knowledge. Wheat bread, rice, beans, and other grains are the regular food of Afghan families because grains are cheaper than other foods. Most cannot afford to buy fruits.
In addition, women in Afghanistan give birth to many more children than in most countries. For a year, I worked with an institution that collected family statistics. All the women studied had given birth to between 7 and 15 children. The distance between each child was more or less one year. This leaves women unable to give enough milk to their children. Also, with many children, their energy and health decline.
Some organizations here work to improve children's health, but it is unlikely that their assistance will cover this huge amount of poor families. As long as poverty and illiteracy are so common in Afghanistan, the health of children and women will continue to decline.
LINKS:
Ukraine war: Bakhmut 'not occupied' by Russia, says defiant Zelensky (BBC)
Biden announces new $375M military aid package for Ukraine during Zelensky meeting (The Hill)
Biden and McCarthy to discuss debt ceiling Monday as staff-level talks resume (CNN)
Biden, House Republicans at stalemate in debt ceiling talks (CBS)
NAACP issues travel advisory for Florida, saying the state is ‘openly hostile toward African Americans’ under Gov. DeSantis’ administration (CNN)
Three people killed and two wounded at Kansas City nightclub shooting — The latest incident marks the third mass shooting over the weekend, bringing the US total for the year so far to 230 (Guardian)
The debate over deadly AI is ripping Silicon Valley apart (WP)
Apple Users Can 'Talk' To ChatGPT Using New App. Here's What You Can Do With It. (Investopedia)
I'm obsessed with this AI art tool for editing images (CreativeBlog)
Supercharge Your ChatGPT Prompts With Auto-GPT (Wired)
5 ChatGPT plugins that do what they promise (Mashable)
Generative AI like ChatGPT is creating waves, but is it crippling our ability to process knowledge? (Economic Times)
The thing missing from generative AI is the ‘why’ (VentureBeat)
Chatbots Will Help Our Species Endure (WSJ)
ChatGPT's Evil Twin, BratGPT, is Designed for World Domination (tom’s)
Neeva, the would-be Google competitor, is shutting down its search engine (Verge)
Is it too late to halt deep-sea mining? Meet the activists trying to save the seabed (Guardian)
Long-hidden ruins of vast network of Maya cities could recast history (WP)
Man Putting Off Starting Family To Focus On Treading Water In Career For Few Years (The Onion)
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