At least four African countries — Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan — are expected to run out of specialised therapeutic food for severely malnourished children within the next three months, international aid group Save the Children has warned.
The group said stocks of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) such as high-energy biscuits and the peanut-based Plumpy’Nut paste were reaching critically low levels following major aid cuts. Some clinics have already begun resorting to less effective alternatives.
“At a time when global hunger is sky-rocketing, the funding that could save children’s lives has been cut,” said Yvonne Arunga, Save the Children’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.
In Kenya, where about 2.8 million people suffered high levels of acute food insecurity during this year’s March-to-May rainy season, RUTF stocks are projected to run out by October. Nigeria, Somalia, and South Sudan are also expected to deplete supplies within the next three months.
Save the Children did not directly identify the donors responsible for the shortfall, but funding reductions by the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s administration and by other Western governments have sharply affected aid delivery. Earlier this year, cuts left 60,000 to 66,000 metric tons of food stranded in warehouses, including 1,100 tons of fortified biscuits. Nearly 500 tons expired and had to be destroyed, while 600 tons were later handed to the U.N. World Food Programme.
Globally, the funding cuts are expected to prevent 15.6 million people across 18 countries from accessing nutrition treatment this year, including 2.3 million severely malnourished children.
Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department announced $93 million in support for RUTF supplies to treat more than 800,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in 13 countries, among them Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Government officials in the affected countries have not yet commented on the crisis.
