At least four African countries will run out of specialised, life-saving food for severely malnourished children within three months because of funding cuts, Save the Children said on Thursday.
Stocks of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) — including high-energy biscuits and peanut-based Plumpy’Nut — are “dangerously low” in Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan, the UK-based charity said. “At a time when global hunger is sky-rocketing, the funding that could save children’s lives has been cut,” regional director Yvonne Arunga said.
The group did not name specific donors. Under President Donald Trump, the United States has reduced humanitarian assistance this year, while other Western governments have pursued longer-term reductions. Some clinics are already resorting to less-effective treatments, Save the Children said.
Kenya’s stocks are expected to run out in October after an estimated 2.8 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity during the March–May rainy season. Supplies in Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan are projected to be depleted within three months.
Globally, funding reductions could interrupt nutrition treatment for 15.6 million people across 18 countries this year, including 2.3 million children with severe acute malnutrition, Save the Children said.
Earlier this year, U.S. aid cuts left 60,000–66,000 metric tons of food — including 1,100 tons of fortified biscuits — stuck in warehouses for months, Reuters reported in May. Washington later transferred 600 tons of the biscuits to the U.N. World Food Programme but said nearly 500 tons expired and would be destroyed.
This month, the U.S. State Department announced $93 million for RUTF to treat more than 800,000 children in 13 countries, including Nigeria, Sudan, Kenya and Democratic Republic of Congo. Government officials in the four affected countries did not immediately comment.