By Doris Obinna
Save the Children has warned that at least four African countries are on the brink of exhausting supplies of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) within the next three months, leaving millions of severely malnourished children at risk of death.
Its report revealed that Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan are among the hardest hit, with aid cuts and global funding shortfalls threatening the survival of some of the most vulnerable children on the continent.
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RUTF, often referred to as a “wonder food,” is a nutrient-rich paste made of peanuts, sugar, milk powder, oil, vitamins, and minerals. Packaged in foil pouches with a long shelf life and no need for refrigeration, it has been a cornerstone in treating severe acute malnutrition for over three decades, saving millions of young lives. A child suffering from severe malnutrition is nine times more likely to die from common infections compared to a well-nourished child.
The report further disclosed that Nigeria is facing one of the gravest situations, with an estimated 3.5 million children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition. The country needs at least 629,000 cartons of RUTF to cover its lean season between June and November, yet only 64 percent of the requirement has been secured. Northeast and northwest Nigeria remain the most affected, and Save the Children reports it requires 3,000 cartons of the therapeutic food each month just to sustain its programmes.
In Kenya, repeated cycles of drought and flooding have left millions of families food insecure. About 2.8 million people are projected to experience high levels of acute food insecurity, with children in Turkana county among the most vulnerable. To sustain treatment for severely malnourished children until the end of 2025, the country needs 105,000 cartons of RUTF. So far, only 77 percent of this has been met, and stocks are expected to run out by October.
Somalia is also facing alarming levels of hunger, with nearly half of all children under five at risk of malnutrition. One in eight children requires immediate life-saving treatment with RUTF or hospitalisation. Yet, only 39 percent of the country’s nutrition funding requirements for 2025 have been met, and aid agencies are warning that September could see major disruptions in nutrition programmes if gaps remain unaddressed.
In South Sudan, the number of acutely malnourished children under five has risen sharply from 2.1 million to 2.3 million this year. About 714,000 are at risk of severe acute malnutrition, but only a third have received treatment so far.
Funding gaps have already forced the closure of 15 percent of nutrition facilities, with services increasingly being shifted to government-led delivery despite severe resource constraints.
Save the Children’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Yvonne Arunga, described the situation as devastating. “Imagine being a parent with a severely malnourished child. Now imagine that the only thing that could help your child bounce back from the brink of death is therapeutic food and that food is out of stock when it was once available. Hunger knows no borders and no limits and is a force that drains a child’s energy and silences their play and their dreams.”
Globally, the collapse in nutrition funding is predicted to disrupt treatment for 15.6 million people across 18 countries, including more than 2.3 million severely malnourished children in 2025. The situation is forecast to worsen further in 2026.
Save the Children, which has been providing nutrition support for over a century, is urging the international community to urgently increase flexible funding for malnutrition programmes and strengthen supply chains to prevent children from being cut off from the only treatment that can save their lives.
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