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narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc news". >> i am in washingtos is bbc world news america. the children needlessly dying in afghanistan, hospitals and clinics have only been equipment. with lives lost to curable diseases. a busy world and often lonely existence. we speak to the u.s. surgeon general, as he warns against an epidemic of loneliness. >> the increase priest -- risk of premature deaths associated

with a lack of solana rowe connection is on par with smoking daily and greater than the risk we see associated with obesity. >> and is this the face of modern monarchy, we take a look at how the dutch royals make a slimmed down monarchy work for the masses. welcome to world news america on pbs and around the globe. we begin with a difficult story to watch. more than 1000 children under the age of five and afghanistan are dying every week. from diseases that are preventable. that is according to the charity unicef. the country's public health infrastructure was already week before the taliban took over in 2021. it is virtually broken now. for in funding has been frozen and the little help still available from eight agencies is also under threat because the taliban has banned women from working for them.

our correspondent, and camera operator have been to a hospital on the break of collapse. what we are about to show you is deeply distressing and shows young children in their final moments. but their families wanted us to film them so that the world could see the true scale of the humanitarian disaster that has unfolded. here is the report. >> every child in this room is in need of critical care. pneumonia is ravaging their little bodies. this one-year-old struggles to breathe. his mother holds an oxygen pipe near his nose. masks for their small faces are not available.

the child in the next bed worsens continually and his mother is given an extra two. mothers filling in for what trained staff and medical equipment should do. this basic facility is the intensive care unit in the main hospital in a province to more than a million people. room after room full of sick children. this one barely breathing. ill with pneumonia and malnutrition. his mother one want -- wants us to see his condition. he is fading. doctors find a faint heartbeat. already defeated by a lack of resources, they are trying to revive him with what little they have. it tells them -- it they tell us

that it took eight hours to bring this child here. this is one of two nurses treating 60 children. she makes one final attempt. minutes later, she tells the mother that her boy has died. every disease he had was curable. >> i am also a mother, and when i saw the baby died i felt like i lost my own child. it hurt my conscience. we don't have equipment and trained staff. there is nothing we can do but watch babies die. >> barely a few moments passed before we found another child in distress. two years old, she was born with a heart defect. a condition that is not uncommon or hard to treat.

we borrow money to take her to couple, but they could not afford surgery, so we had to bring her back, her grandmother tells us. please help us cure her. what she has could have been fixed with a routine operation. but this hospital is unable to perform it. her father tells us his daughter had just begun to speak. forming her first words, calling out to him. >> if i had an income she would never have suffered this fate. right now, i don't even have the money to buy a cup of tea. this hospital does not have any equipment to cure her. you can barely find an oxygen center. >> when we came back later, we were told that she had not survived. oxygen had run out.

within hours, two children died. another question below for the doctor and head of -- in charge of the ward and his colleagues. >> i feel exhaustion and agony. every day we lose one or two 11 children. we are almost accustomed to it now. >> for 20 years, the war put billions of dollars into afghanistan's public health care. what we have seen raises questions about how that money was spent. the hospital here was made strong enough to withstand a regime change. >> in the one and a half years since the taliban took over, the funding that propped up health care was frozen. we have been to hospitals and clinics all across this country. this is the worst we have seen. it is hard to believe that this is the main provincial hospital. even this bare minimum is being

held out because humanitarian agencies are funding some of the salaries, medicines and food. it is sorely insufficient. and if that funding is reduced further there is no doubt that the direct result of that will be more children dying. eight agencies warned that funds which could help these families may be hit. because of the restrictions on women with the taliban, violating international laws. >> incident, the rifle military factions fighting for control have agreed a seven-day cease-fire. it is due to start on thursday. that comes as violence continues to ravage the country. the deal was announced by south sudan, which said that the two sides had also agreed to name her presented is where peace talks. the previous truces have been broken, nearly half a million people have been displaced by more than two weeks of fighting.

let's move close to home here in america, the u.s. surgeon general has declared loneliness and epidemic. he is the first surgeon general to issue an advisory on this. in a report released on tuesday, he compared the health risks of social isolation to smoking a dozen cigarette today. the office is proposing a national frameworkwords, rebuiln and community within america. here's why. at any moment, one into americans is expensing measurable levels of loneliness. in a recent study, americans spent just 20 minutes a day with friends. that is down from 60 minutes, nearly two decades ago. less time with friends, more feelings of isolation. and young people are feeling the strain more than mos those aged between 15-24 reported a 70% drop in time spent with friends during that same.

-- same time. the impact of lummis -- loneliness is something that the surgeon general knows all too well. >> i want to touch on your own personal understanding of the cost of loneliness. and unfortunately that this is something you know all too well after your first stint as the surgeon general. can you tell us about that? >> absolutely. this is very close to my heart because it was an expanse i had after my first tenure as surgeon general. in that job ended, and it ended abruptly, i was without the community and work that i had spent so much time with. but i also made a critical mistake during my time, i had neglected my family and my friends during that time. thinking that it was too hard to focus on work and focus on family and friends. and i was really suffering with the consequences of that which work if you found sense of loneliness that followed before weeks which stretched into months. and it was my wife, alice, who

helped me understand what i was going through. she was the one who noticed that i was getting linear and lonely. i think about that expanse a lot because there are many people who struggle with loneliness and field a real sense of shame about it. in america, one into adults report measurable levels of loneliness. -- one in two adults report measurable levels of loneliness. it's something that we should confront and talk about and something that we should address. that is a reason why i issued a surgeon general's advisory on loneliness and isolation. >> the emotional toll that it can take is perhaps more intuitive, the fact that it can lead to a rise in anxiety and depression, here are some of the other statistics that you laid out. he said that it the risk of heart disease by 29%, according to studies, it increases the risk of dementia by 50%, and stroke by 32%. were you surprised when you

learned the physical told this can take? -- toll this can take? >> we did not understand it for a long time as a health issue, but then i learned that it absolutely is, in addition to raising the risk of depression anxiety and suicide, the risk of physical illness like cardiovascular disease, dementia and stroke is profound. it may surprise people to learn that the increased risk of premature death associated with social connection is on par with the risk that we see from smoking daily and greater than the risk that we see associated with obesity. so this is a profound public health challenge and it is why we have to address it with the focus and the resources and the attention that we afford to public health issues tobacco, diabetes and obesity. >> when it comes to addressing it, you have actually launched a national framework. i want to read out some of the key components of that framework

that you are proposing. there is strengthening social infrastructure in local communities, enacting april connection -- a pro-connection, sector, deepening knowledge of the issue, and cultivating a culture of connection. but what can we expect to see from the government when it comes to enacting all this? >> there are certainly steps the government can take. certainly one government, this is local, federal and state governments, they can invest more resources in research to identify the drivers and solutions of bulimia's. -- loneliness. they can also support community organizations that have played a vital role in bringing us together and helping us learn about one another. but participation in those organizations has really declined. in addition to government it is important to note that there are steps that workplaces can take

to foster greater connection among workers, and that is good for people and it is good for business. there are steps schools can take to build in social and emotional learning so that children know how to manage emotions and can build health relationships. and there are steps that we can take as individuals, spending 15 minutes a day with people that we love and making sure that we present when we are talking to other people and not distracted by devices and looking for ways to help one another recognizing service as a powerful antidote to loneliness, these can help. >> is there not an issue that access to quality remote -- resources is not equal across all demographics and backgrounds, gallup reported in february that young adults living in lower socioeconomic households suffer from greater feelings of loneliness then those in higher socioeconomic households. so how does your framework plan to tackle that and how will you ensure those left behind are still included?

>> it's an important issue, that of equity. and we need to make sure that we are helping everyone build strong healthy social connections. and this is where schools and committee organizations make a big difference. most children, for example, spend time in school making sure that all of our schools actually have the kind of social and emotional learning to help children build social relationships. we also know that the committee organizations, service organizations, these play a vital role in helping people across socioeconomic backgrounds. but participation in them has declined over the last five or six decades. it is the place we need to rebuild. this is about lifting up everyone and what we think about is that we measure our progress so that we know that no one is left behind. >> and your report mentions social media and technology as issues. they are bills being passed such as in utah which would require

teenagers and young adults under 18 having permission from their children to have a social media account. parents access to -- would have access to their accounts, and there is a bill in congress wanting to sit age limits for social media. what is your take on some of this? >> my belief is that it is long past time to start addressing the potential negatve impacts of social media, the mental health of our youth. i talk to young people all the time, all across america, in roundtables and schools, and committee settings. they tell me most consistently are three things about social media. and makes them feel worse about themselves, it makes them feel worse about their friendships, but they can get off of it. my worries -- murray is that these platforms have been asked -- built to maximize time that people spend on them. without as much consideration about being designed for their safety and health and healthy relationships. and that has to change and it has not changed enough in the

last 10 years but this is a place where policymakers need to step in and put safety standards in place like we have for many products that young people use and we have to hold companies accountable to meet these safety standards. >> briefly, what does success actually look like for you in five or 10 years? >> it's an important question. success for me would be more and more people across our country and across the world who feel that they have healthy relationships in their life, who feel that there is somebody that they could tune to -- turn to in times of success, -- distress, and to share moments with. but also so that people have the courage to reach out to others and be of help in service to them. we are talking about rebuilding the social fabric of our communities. that fabric is essential not just for individual health but for social health. when communities are more

connected, they are more economically prosperous and they have lower rates of violence and are more resilient in the face of the events like hurricanes and tornadoes. they are less prone to being divided and to polarization. the bottom line is our connections with one another are the foundation for our well-being and now is a time for us to invest in strengthening them. >> the u.s. surgeon general here. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you so much. >> the u.s. pentagon has confirmed that it will deploy 1500 additional troops to mexico's border for 90 days. the decision and outs in washington on tuesday comes i had uf ecneanxpted surge in -- o enter the united states. code restrictions will be lifting next week. the armed forces will not carry out law enforcement duties. during it press conference, pat ryder said the troops will fill -- critical capability gaps. a u.s. senate panel says it will

pursue legislation to set binding ethical standards for supreme court judges, following a series of revelations. you may remember a recent report detailing how one of them, clarence thomas, had accepted e -- luxury travel for a republican donor for years without discomfort -- is closer. others have faced criticism over ties to their conservative interests. this is driving a crisis in public comments. >> this is not the ordinary course of business and it should not be a standard for those of us in public service. we would not tolerate this from a alderman or a city public counts member. it falls short of any standard in america. the supreme court will not even acknowledge that it is a problem. >> anthony, it feels like there is a consensus here in terms that there is a concern about the legitimacy of the court, trust in the supreme court, but

do democrats and republicans agree on the causes behind that? >> no, but there is this lack of confidence in the supreme court by the public at a historical low. democrats will say it is because of stores like what we heard with clarence thomas, excepting suppose arrives and lavished left -- gifts and investments who might have business interests. republicans countered that it is democratic attacks on the courts that is undermining the confidence in the court. to magnetic criticisms of the opinions handed down because they disagree with them for political reasons. the idea of yes, they see the polls and they note the supreme court is not trusted as much but the reasons why our very different from the two sides. >> one of the chances that an independent body or anyone would be able to hold them to account and monitor ethical standards? >> there was a question whether congress could even do that because they are a separate branch of government, whether congress could even pass laws to

hold them to account. the political reality is that even if they could, they are not the votes. certainly not in the republican house of representatives. they are counting on the justices to be more open about it and to abide by a foundational ethics principal statement they recently released and essentially police themselves. >> on a personal level, do we know how the justices are going through all of this scrutiny, how they are going through? >> there has been pressure on the conservative justices, samuel alito had an interview where they felt -- he said that they were being hammered relentlessly and no one was defending them. that statement of ethics that justice roberts released talked about the physical threats, the threats against the justices, that they are all feeling because of the scrutiny that the court is under. >> anthony zurcher there.

police have breast -- arrested a man outside buckingham palace. he reportedly approached the gates of the row home and through a number of items into the palace grounds including what officials believe were shotgun cartridges. he was arrested on suspicion of possessing a defensive weapon. this comes ahead of the coronation, and authorities are hot -- on high alert. the princess royal says that from her perspective, a slimmed-down monarchy doesn't seem like a good idea. but princess anne says the royal family does need to discuss how to stay relevant. in an interview with the canadian public broadcaster cbc, she insisted the monarchy has a lot to offer the country. our correspondent has been to the netherlands to see how royalty there has been swimming down by reducing the number of working royals. -- for slimming down by reducing the number of working royals. >> it is a public holiday

international separation. this is king stay in the netherlands. -- at a national suppression. this is king's in the netherlands. >> we are free from work and we can percent rate. >> king alexander, and the queen are in broader stamp today. -- rubberstamp today. >> they arrived by bus. with them, they are wider family. most of whom have regular jobs and in private life. but they turned out for this event. >> if you can get close to the people that is important. >> the king can only be in one spot, and luckily it is a larger family so we can say hello and because all of these people stay here, i think they have been here for hours and hours waiting. it is always nice to say hello and to get close to make a picture. >> what really strikes you watching the dust royal family here is that they -- is there

relaxed approach. there is the wealth and privilege of royalty, but this king and queen seem to have stripped back much of the formality. ♪ >> this is a couple who party. they do the majority of engagements and they are the public face of dutch royalty. but i think european royals have gone further. in denmark, queen margarita has slimmed-down the monarchy, removing titles from four of her grandma -- french open. it has caused a family follow. we are unlikely to see anything like that in the u.k.. process and voiced her skepticism. -- princess and voiced her skepticism. >> i think it strange that they made it seem like a justifiable comment. there were changes a bit, it does not sound like a good idea

from where i'm standing. i'm not quite sure what else we can do. >> all boil families are grappling with popularity, cost and dealing with their colonial past. in the netherlands, a sense of public accessibility and a tight focus on the king and queen is there approach to modern monarchy. >> forgot, every hollywood ending deserves a parade. and it is fitting that ryan minerals and rob mcelhinney joined the festivities in northwell's on tuesday to celebrate the teams returned to the english football league. the club was relegated 50 years ago, a painful experience. the actors bought the team just two years ago and have overseen its remarkable rise. their long-term plan is to reach the premier league. for now, they are surely happy with a great season in the books

and thousands of happy supporters. some of them came from as far away as new zealand and here in the united states. a happy ending indeed. time to roll the credits. because it is the end of our program, thank you so much for watching, you can find out more on all the days news on our websites, you could find me on social media. narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪

narrator: you're watching pbs.

amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff bennett is on assignment. on "the newshour" tonight, congressional negotiations over government funding grow increasingly urgent after the treasury says the u.s. could hit its debt limit in less than a month. multiple reports of justices' questionable financial dealings prompt a senate probe into supreme court ethics. and, the new head of the world food program, cindy mccain, discusses the worsening hunger crisis and widespread displacement in somalia. >> they're not only facing drought and the inability to be able to feed themselves, but they're also facing conflict as well. so those two combinations are almost a perfect storm for what could be famine.

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