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Rashida Musa, 29, tends to her sick child who was sent home from the hospital with malnutrition following US aid cuts, in Tudun Gambo, in Nigeria's Bauchi State, May 8, 2025 [Photo: Reuters]
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International News Desk
Save the Children has warned that millions of children across Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan could face life-threatening malnutrition in the coming months as emergency food supplies run out due to international aid cuts. The organization said on Thursday that the four countries are expected to exhaust stocks of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF)—a high-nutrient paste with a long shelf life that does not require refrigeration and is critical in treating severe acute malnutrition.
In Nigeria alone, an estimated 3.5 million children under the age of five suffering from severe acute malnutrition are at risk if supplies are not replenished.
“Imagine being a parent with a severely malnourished child,” said Yvonne Arunga, Save the Children’s regional director for East and Southern Africa.
“Now imagine that the only thing that could help your child recover is therapeutic food—and that food is suddenly out of stock.”
The warning comes just months after the United Nations announced sweeping programme cuts, describing them as the “deepest funding cuts ever to hit the international humanitarian sector.”
“We have been forced into a triage of human survival,” UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said in June. “The math is cruel, and the consequences are heartbreaking. Too many people will not get the support they need, but we will save as many lives as possible with the resources we have.”
Impact of Donor Cuts
Key donors—including the United States, United Kingdom, and several European countries—have drastically reduced aid budgets, raising alarm about the impact on food, healthcare, and poverty alleviation efforts worldwide. In July, the US Congress approved an $8 billion cut to foreign aid spending as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to reduce federal expenditure.
The consequences are already being felt. In August, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported that at least 652 malnourished children had died in its facilities in northern Nigeria during the first half of 2025 due to lack of timely treatment.
“We are witnessing massive budget cuts, particularly from the US, UK, and Europe, and these are directly affecting malnourished children’s treatment,” said Ahmed Aldikhari, MSF’s country representative in Nigeria.
Local clinics struggling
On Thursday, Save the Children reported that staff at one of its clinics in northwestern Kenya have been forced to borrow food from other facilities to sustain children under their care.
“If these children are not supported, we will soon begin losing them,” said Sister Winnie, who runs the facility in Turkana. Save the Children estimates that Kenya alone requires 105,000 cartons of RUTF through the end of 2025. So far, only 79,000 cartons have been secured, with stocks projected to run out by October.
Global nutrition crisis
The organization warned that shortfalls in nutrition funding could leave 15.6 million people in 18 countries—including more than 2.3 million severely malnourished children—without treatment this year. The situation is expected to deteriorate further in 2026 if donor commitments are not restored.
Source: Al Jazeera
READ ORIGINAL STORY HERE: Millions of children at risk across Africa as aid cuts impact food supplies
