Nearly two million severely malnourished children at risk of death due to funding shortages, UNICEF warns

Kathmandu: Nearly two million children suffering from severe wasting, also known as severe acute malnutrition, are at risk of death due to funding shortages for life-saving Ready-to-use-Therapeutic-Food (RUTF) to treat wasting, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned. 

Levels of severe wasting in children under five years remain gravely high in several countries, fueled by conflict, economic shocks and climate crises.

“In the past two years an unprecedented global response has allowed the scale-up of nutrition programmes to contain child wasting and its associated mortality in countries severely affected by conflict, climate and economic shocks, and the resulting maternal and child nutrition crisis,” said UNICEF Director of Child Nutrition and Development Victor Aguayo. “But urgent action is needed now to save the lives of nearly two million children who are fighting this silent killer.” 

It is estimated that funding shortages for RUTF are leaving nearly two million children at risk of not receiving treatment in the 12 hardest-hit countries. Mali, Nigeria, Niger and Chad are either already experiencing or imminently facing stockouts of RUTF, while Cameroon, Pakistan, Sudan, Madagascar, South Sudan, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda could run out of stock by mid-2025. 

The situation in Africa’s Sahel region is exacerbated by prolonged droughts, floods, and erratic rainfall. These conditions lead to food shortages and high food prices, resulting in higher levels of severe wasting. 

For example, in Mali, over 300,000 children under the age of five are expected to suffer from severe wasting in 2024, yet nutrition programs started running out of RUTF supplies at the end of July, meaning children will not receive the treatment they urgently need.  

In Chad, the government declared a food and nutrition emergency in February. Over 500,000 children under five are projected to suffer from severe wasting this year, and provinces with large refugee populations are particularly affected. Around 315,000 children were treated for severe wasting between January and August. While the need for RUTF remains urgent, the country is projected to run out of it by the end of this month. 

UNICEF is calling for US$165 million in a renewed No Time to Waste 2024 Update and Call to Urgent Action, to fund therapeutic feeding, treatment and care for the two million children at-risk of death due to critical shortages of RUTF.  

Since No Time to Waste—an acceleration plan to respond to the global food and nutrition crisis—launched in 2022, UNICEF has raised over US$900 million to scale up programs, services and supplies for the early prevention, detection and treatment of child wasting. In that time, 21.5 million children and women received essential services for the early prevention of child wasting, 46 million children were reached with early detection services, and 5.6 million children were reached with life-saving treatment. 

To address severe child malnutrition in the long-term, UNICEF launched the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) last year, with the support of the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.  

As a UNICEF-led multi-partner financing mechanism, one of the goals of the CNF is to support local and regional production of first foods—fortified foods, food supplements and RUTF for young children—in areas experiencing high levels of child malnutrition, to circumvent global supply chain disruptions, reduce environmental impacts of shipment, and boost job opportunities and economic growth within communities. Once fully implemented, the Child Nutrition Fund will help insulate countries from the funding shortages and fluctuations in demand currently driving part of the growing RUTF shortages. 

Children suffering from wasting, which is caused by a lack of nutritious and safe foods and repeated bouts of disease, are dangerously thin and their immune systems are weak, leaving them vulnerable to growth failure, poor development, and death. 

“UNICEF has repeatedly warned that without sustainable prevention strategies and sustained financing, there would be RUTF stockouts in several countries, with the Sahel hardest hit by funding shortages,” Aguayo added. “We are now seeing that happening. Funding from this appeal would complement recent RUTF contributions, by sustaining the production and availability of RUTF, including from manufacturers in the global south.”