Nearly two million children suffering from severe wasting, also known as severe acute malnutrition, are at risk of death due to funding shortages for life-saving Ready-to-use-Therapeutic-Food (RUTF) to treat wasting, UNICEF warned today. 

Levels of severe wasting in children under five years remain gravely high in several countries, fueled by conflict, economic shocks and climate crises.

“In the past two years an unprecedented global response has allowed the scale-up of nutrition programmes to contain child wasting and its associated mortality in countries severely affected by conflict, climate and economic shocks, and the resulting maternal and child nutrition crisis,” said UNICEF Director of Child Nutrition and Development Victor Aguayo. “But urgent action is needed now to save the lives of nearly two million children who are fighting this silent killer.” 

It is estimated that funding shortages for RUTF are leaving nearly two million children at risk of not receiving treatment in the 12 hardest-hit countries. Mali, Nigeria, Niger and Chad are either already experiencing or imminently facing stockouts of RUTF, while Cameroon, Pakistan, Sudan, Madagascar, South Sudan, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda could run out of stock by mid-2025.