Afghanistan famine: Help for starving families must come in 'days and hours', says Gordon Brown

'What ITV News has done by showing these pictures from Afghanistan is make it impossible for the rest of the world to ignore that something must now be done to avoid a winter of starvation' - Gordon Brown

Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said ITV News' coverage of the famine in Afghanistan has made "it impossible for the rest of the world to ignore" as he warned that "something must be done now".

Mr Brown described pictures of malnourished, premature babies and desperate families as "shocking and harrowing" and said Britain must call for a conference of world leaders and raise money to help the people it promised to help.

The UN has asked for $4.4 billion of aid in 2022, but a global total of just $28 million has been delivered, ITV News Correspondent Rachel Younger reports

He said a joint humanitarian effort to save starving Afghans and emaciated babies must start in "days and hours, and not weeks and months".

In recent days, ITV News spoke to a desperate father offering to sell his daughter and a crying mother whose baby is sick with fever, and saw children dressed in the thinnest of clothes on the coldest of days.

Watch John Ray's heartbreaking report from Afghanistan

Mr Gordon said: "What ITV News has done by showing these pictures from Afghanistan is make it impossible for the rest of the world to ignore that something must now be done to avoid a winter of starvation."

Calling for urgent action, he said: "Britain should call a pledging conference to raise 4.5 billion to help the 22 million of Afghanistan people who are in danger of starvation.

"And we must bring the whole international community together, to get teachers paid, to get health workers paid, to get the economy in Afghanistan moving again so that people can actually go without famine."

He continued: "And that must be part of a humanitarian effort that must start in days and hours and not in weeks and months.

"It's an emergency. People are dying, we've a duty to help."

He added: "We went into Afghanistan to help the Afghan people escape from terrorism. And we must now continue to help the Afghan people."