Millions of children at risk across Africa as aid cuts impact food supplies

Emergency nutrient supplies are moving retired successful Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan, Save the Children warns.

Millions of children crossed 4 African countries could dice of malnutrition successful the adjacent 3 months, Save the Children has warned, arsenic exigency nutrient supplies dwindle arsenic a effect of planetary assistance cuts.

Save the Children said connected Thursday that Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan were expected to tally retired of alleged “ready-to-use therapeutic food” (RUTF), a nutritional paste that has a agelong support beingness and does not request refrigeration.

In Nigeria alone, the lives of 3.5 cardinal children nether property 5 who are suffering from terrible acute malnutrition volition beryllium nether menace without entree to attraction and nutrition support, the humanitarian radical said.

“Imagine being a genitor with a severely malnourished child,” Yvonne Arunga, Save the Children’s determination manager for East and Southern Africa, said successful a statement.

“Now ideate that the lone happening that could assistance your kid bounce backmost from the brink of decease is therapeutic nutrient and that nutrient is retired of banal erstwhile it was erstwhile available.”

The informing comes conscionable months aft the United Nations announced sweeping programme cuts successful June amid what the UN’s humanitarian bureau described arsenic “the deepest backing cuts ever to deed the planetary humanitarian sector”.

“We person been forced into a triage of quality survival,” UN assistance main Tom Fletcher said astatine the time.

“The mathematics is cruel, and the consequences are heartbreaking. Too galore radical volition not get the enactment they need, but we volition prevention arsenic galore lives arsenic we tin with the resources we are given.”

Key planetary donors, led notably by the United States, person drastically scaled backmost overseas assistance funding, starring to wide interest that captious assistance – from nutrient and healthcare to poorness simplification – volition beryllium affected successful countries astir the world.

In July, arsenic portion of US President Donald Trump’s propulsion to standard backmost national spending, Congress approved a package that slashed the country’s overseas assistance expenditures by astir $8bn.

Last month, Doctors Without Borders (known by its French acronym MSF) reported that astatine slightest 652 malnourished children had died astatine its facilities successful bluish Nigeria successful the archetypal fractional of 2025 owed to a deficiency of timely care.

“We are presently witnessing monolithic fund cuts, peculiarly from the United States, the United Kingdom, and different European countries, which are having a existent interaction connected the attraction of malnourished children,” said Ahmed Aldikhari, MSF’s state typical successful Nigeria.

On Thursday, Save the Children said unit astatine 1 of its clinics successful northwestern Kenya person been forced to effort to get nutrient from different facilities to assistance provender malnourished children.

“And if [the children] are not supported, I cognize precise soon [we] volition beryllium losing them,” said Sister Winnie, who runs the installation successful Turkana.

About 105,000 RUTF cartons are needed done the extremity of the twelvemonth crossed Kenya, Save the Children said, but lone astir 79,000 person been secured truthful far, with stocks expected to tally retired successful October.

The radical said that overall, shortfalls successful nutrition backing could chopped disconnected attraction to 15.6 cardinal radical successful 18 countries astir the world, including much than 2.3 cardinal severely malnourished children this year.

The concern is expected to deteriorate further successful 2026, it added.