Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure that (a) pregnant women and (b) young children have access to (i) malnutrition treatment and (ii) health services in Afghanistan.

We are gravely concerned about the health and nutrition situation in Afghanistan. Access to essential and nutrition services for pregnant and breastfeeding women and children is limited especially for those in rural areas and is exacerbated by Taliban restrictions on women's movement requiring male chaperones. We continue to urge the Taliban to reverse restrictions on women and girls and improve access to essential services. We have adapted our support to provide more flexible funding to help sustain essential and lifesaving health and malnutrition treatment and prevention services, including for reproductive, maternal and newborn services. We are working with other donors, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to protect health system capacity including routine immunisations for children and reproductive and maternal services for pregnant women. We are convening key partners and donors to strengthen our collective approach to tackling food insecurity and malnutrition in Afghanistan.