Aid worker Athena Rayburn, from Save the Children, reports on the crisis in Afghanistan. Healthcare is a human right, but for millions in Afghanistan, it has become a distant dream, she writes.

Afghanistan is one of the toughest places in the world to be an older person, and the troubles last summer put them at further risk. Your support for the DEC Afghanistan Crisis Appeal has allowed Age International to reach over 4,400 families with support tailored to the needs of older people and those with disabilities,

In December last year, we launched an urgent appeal for the crisis in Afghanistan, which has raised an incredible £50 million. From the thousands of people we have supported, here are three lives we have impacted, thanks to donations from the UK public.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, DEC funds are supporting an innovative project that delivers regular food baskets to people's homes, thanks to a network of volunteer cyclists. 

The people of Afghanistan are facing a crisis of catastrophic proportions. 22 million face acute hunger; over eight million are on the brink of famine. Lives are already being lost. With snow falling in Kabul and the cold about to set in to block off supply routes, aid workers say there is an urgency to save lives. 

Hunger is rising in Yemen and Covid related deaths have escalated. The future looks very bad, with Covid, or without Covid, writes Mohammed Basha, Food Security and Livelihood Leader, Oxfam Yemen.

The threat of winter looms in Syria where people are already dying from conflict and Covid, says aid worker Shahinaz Muamar, from a local partner of a DEC charity.

People are left with the psychological trauma of losing loved ones and are struggling to earn a living, writes Susmita Guha, Senior Manager West Bengal, Save the Children India.

"I wish we were celebrating that the pandemic is over now but, unfortunately, it's far from over. It has gone on for so long, people are tired and their resilience has been stretched and stretched and stretched," writes Hebdavi Muhindo, Tearfund Country Director in the Democratic Republic of Congo.