15th July 2026

A new report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), published on Sunday, warns that 3.7 million children under five in Afghanistan are at heightened risk of malnutrition due to food insecurity, poor diets and inadequate access to basic services. In its report "Too Little, Too Late: The diet Crisis Facing Young Children in Afghanistan", UNICEF said acute malnutrition has deteriorated in 26 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces compared to 2025. The UN agency stated that conditions are worsening even before Afghanistan's annual peak malnutrition season, which mainly runs from July to September. In addition to poor child diets and rising food insecurity, worsening malnutrition is also linked to disease outbreaks, low immunization coverage, inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene services, and growing funding and supply gaps – all of which are weakening children’s health and increasing their vulnerability to wasting.  UNICEF’s Representative in Afghanistan, Tajudeen Oyewale, said: "This new evidence gives us an opportunity to act before children reach the point of severe malnutrition. When families begin reducing meals or cutting back on nutritious foods it is not only a sign of hardship. It is a warning that a child may soon become dangerously wasted. Treatment saves lives, but we must also invest in prevention, starting with the diets of the youngest children and pregnant women." 

Loving God, we place into your  are the children of Afghanistan and all who live with food precarity. Be living bread to those who are hungry each day, be healing and wholeness to those who have no access to health care, and be their true home to all who have been displaced.  Bless the work of organisation such as UNICEF who seek to alert the world to the challenges children face and bring them relief from their struggles and hope for their futures. Turn hearts and minds to your ways of caring for our neighbours, whoever they may be. Open our eyes to see you in all acts of compassionate care and open our arms to join in what you are already doing. We pray that the children will receive all they need to prevent them from wasting.  May the international community's response also act of a hand of friendship to the Taliban administration and improve relationships for the common good.  In the name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.  

Bloomberg Philanthropies has donated $250 million to fill a funding shortfall in the implementation of many countries’ ocean protection plans.  The aim is to ensure funding for small island nations for the ocean conservation and management initiatives agreed under the UN’s new High Seas Treaty produces the real gains intended.  While countries have now committed roughly 10% of the ocean to conservation and protection, many areas lack any tools for implementing management plans, enforcement, and long-term financing.  “Our new commitment marks the next phase of the Bloomberg Ocean Initiative,” said Patricia E. Harris, CEO of Bloomberg Philanthropies. “Over the years, we have made important progress in protecting our ocean, but we still have a long way to go. We look forward to working with partners to not only improve leadership and governance on the issue but also strengthen economies and safeguard the livelihoods of the billions of people who rely on the ocean every day.”

You can find out more about Bloomberg Philanthropies here.

Psalm 96: 11- 13

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

the sea resound, and all that is in it.

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;

let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.

Let all creation rejoice before the Lord,

for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness

and the peoples in his faithfulness.