LONDON/GENEVA, 24 April 2025 – At least 110,000* severely malnourished children supported by Save the Children could be left without access to life-saving ready-to-use emergency food and nutrition programmes as aid cuts hit supplies, according to new analysis.
Countries facing shortages include Sudan, where famine has been declared in several areas and people are resorting to eating grass to stay alive.
Globally, one in five deaths among children aged under five are attributed to severe acute malnutrition, making it one of the top threats to child survival. Community-based programmes combining medical treatment and therapeutic foods, including a fortified peanut paste, have a 90% success rate.
Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) is a life-saving treatment for severe malnutrition. Packed with calories, protein and essential nutrients, it comes in a ready-to-eat sachet that requires no refrigeration or clean water. Just three sachets a day can bring a severely malnourished child back to health in a matter of weeks.
In 2024 there were large-scale breaks in the supply of RUTF as rising malnutrition rates drove up demand and due to disruptions in global supply chains and insufficient funding. This situation is expected to worsen in 2025.
Save the Children’s analysis of the ten countries facing the most severe supply gaps warns that 110,000 malnourished children could be denied vital treatment by the end of the year. In many of these countries, stocks of therapeutic food are expected to run out as early as next month due to a critical shortfall in funding.
Over the past 30 years this emergency therapeutic food has saved the lives of millions of children facing acute malnutrition [1] [2]. At a time when global hunger is skyrocketing [3], the current global supply of RUTF is already not even meeting 40% of global needs, Save the Children said, leaving millions of children without access to this life-saving intervention.
Hannah Stephenson, Head of Hunger and Nutrition at Save the Children, said:
“Right now, funding shortfalls mean essential nutrition packs are not reaching the children who desperately need them. We know we have the expertise and the track record to reach children around the world but what we urgently need now is the funding to ensure children can receive life-saving treatment. We are running out of time, and this will cost children’s lives.
“We also need to see long-term commitments to tackle the root causes of hunger and malnutrition, or else we will continue to see the reversal of progress made for children.”
Globally at least 18.2 million children were born into hunger in 2024, or about 35 children a minute, with children in conflict zones from Gaza to Ukraine, to Haiti, Sudan to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), struggling daily to get enough to eat.
In Kenya, where Save the Children provides life-saving treatment for acute malnutrition, 18-month-old Ereng has just made a full recovery thanks to Community Health Promoter Charles, who was trained by Save the Children.
Lomanat and Daniel, Ereng’s parents, walked for several kilometres to reach Charles’ clinic. The family are pastoralists, but recent droughts have killed their livestock, and the family now has no sustainable income and no reliable food source.
Ereng gained 2.4kg (5.3 pounds) in two months after starting on the fortified peanut paste, each portion packed with around 500 calories.
Lomanat said:
“Our child was in a very bad shape, and the doctor helped by giving her peanut paste. I am very happy, because she is cured.”
Children are always the most vulnerable in food crises and, without enough to eat and the right nutritional balance, they are at high risk of becoming acutely malnourished.
Malnutrition can cause stunting, impede mental and physical development, and increase the risk of contracting deadly diseases.
About 1.12 billion children globally – or almost half of the world’s children – are unable to afford a balanced diet now, according to data from Save the Children released last month.
In 2025, Save the Children aims to treat 260,000 children for severe acute malnutrition at outpatient sites in 10 countries that are now experiencing therapeutic food shortages.
Aid cuts are already having a devastating impact on children- this is just one example of many. The UK government recently announced cuts to its own aid budget, and while the details of where they will fall remain unclear, Save the Children is urging the UK to reverse these cuts to help build global stability and protect children’s futures.
Save the Children is urgently trying to raise $7 million to provide 110,000 severely malnourished children with life-saving RUTF and the critical services needed to treat malnutrition 1 including skilled health workers, community follow-up, immunizations, safe spaces for treatment, safe water, hygiene and sanitation support.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS:
*Methodology: Save the Children used the target reach figures for all outpatient severe acute malnutrition treatment in 10 countries facing the largest disruption to the RUTF supply and compared with the current funding gaps for RUTF in those countries. Given the continued uncertainty in supply funding these figures are preliminary and up to date as of 26 March 2025. The 10 countries facing the largest disruptions are Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Yemen.
REFERENCES
[1] UNICEF https://www.unicef.org/nutrition/RUTF
[2] UN News https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/10/1155756