Global nutrition funding shortfalls are threatening the lives of millions of children in Africa, with treatment expected to be cut for 15.6 million people across 18 countries in 2025, including over 2.3 million severely malnourished children. If urgent funding gaps are not addressed, countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan are at risk of running out of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) within the next three months, putting vulnerable children at risk of death. RUTF, an energy-dense, micronutrient-rich paste, has saved millions of lives over the past 30 years and is crucial for treating severe acute malnutrition.
In Nigeria, approximately 3.5 million children under five suffer from severe acute malnutrition, with northeast and northwest regions most affected. The country requires 629,000 cartons of RUTF for the June-November lean season, but only 64% of this need has been met. Similarly, in northern Kenya, particularly Turkana county, repeated droughts and floods have left 2.8 million people facing acute food insecurity, with only 77% of the required 105,000 RUTF cartons secured, potentially running out by October. Health clinics are struggling to source therapeutic food amid U.S. aid cuts, leaving severely malnourished children at heightened risk.
Somalia is confronting an alarming malnutrition crisis, with nearly 1.8 million children under five at risk, and one in eight requiring urgent RUTF treatment or hospitalization. Only 39% of the necessary nutrition funding for 2025 has been received, with September flagged as a critical point when many aid programs may face disruptions or scale back operations. Children like fifteen-month-old Dalmar, admitted to a stabilization center, are already experiencing slower recovery due to substitute therapeutic milk being used in place of RUTF amid shortages.
In South Sudan, acute malnutrition among children under five has risen by 10.5% in 2025, affecting 2.3 million children, with 714,000 at risk of severe acute malnutrition. Only one-third of children requiring treatment received it between January and July, due to funding gaps and the closure of 15% of nutrition facilities. Save the Children warns that the collapse of global nutrition funding has left children vulnerable across multiple countries, emphasizing the urgent need for increased and flexible support to ensure life-saving RUTF reaches those most in need.
Yvonne Arunga, Save the Children’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, highlighted the devastating consequences: severely malnourished children are at risk of death when therapeutic food stocks are depleted, threatening their growth, health, and potential. Save the Children is calling on the international community to increase funding and strengthen supply chains to prevent further deterioration of child nutrition and safeguard millions of lives.
