By Bilkis Abdulraheem Lawal
Millions of children across Africa are at risk of death from severe acute malnutrition as supplies of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) could run out within three months due to aid cuts, Save the Children has warned.
The humanitarian organisation said Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan are among the hardest-hit countries, with shortages threatening to reverse decades of progress in treating child malnutrition.
RUTF, a peanut-based paste enriched with milk powder, sugar, oil, vitamins, and minerals, has been hailed as a “wonder food” for its effectiveness in saving severely malnourished children. It requires no refrigeration and has a long shelf life, making it vital in conflict and disaster zones. Over the past 30 years, it has saved millions of lives.
In Nigeria, an estimated 3.5 million children under five are suffering from severe acute malnutrition. The country requires at least 629,000 cartons of RUTF during the June–November lean season, but so far only 64% of this need has been met. Save the Children says its programmes alone require 3,000 cartons every month, but funding cuts in 2025 have left many children without access to treatment.
Kenya is also facing a critical shortage, particularly in drought- and flood-affected Turkana County. Of the 105,000 cartons required to meet needs through the end of the year, only 79,000 have been secured. Stocks are expected to run out by October. “If [children] are not supported, I know very soon we will be losing them,” said Sister Winnie, who runs a Save the Children-supported clinic in Turkana.
In Somalia, nearly half of all children under five are at risk of malnutrition, with one in eight requiring urgent RUTF treatment. However, only 39% of the country’s nutrition funding needs for 2025 have been met. Aid agencies warn that September could mark a tipping point, forcing many to shut down or scale back their programmes.
The crisis is equally dire in South Sudan, where 2.3 million children are experiencing acute malnutrition. About 714,000 are at risk of severe acute malnutrition, yet only one-third have received treatment this year. Funding cuts have forced 15% of nutrition centres to close.
Yvonne Arunga, Save the Children’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, described the looming shortage as devastating.
“Imagine being a parent with a severely malnourished child… and the only thing that could help your child bounce back from the brink of death is out of stock,” she said. “At a time when global hunger is skyrocketing, the funding that could save children’s lives has been cut.”
Globally, collapsing nutrition funding is projected to cut off treatment for 15.6 million people across 18 countries in 2025, including more than 2.3 million severely malnourished children. The situation is expected to worsen in 2026 if urgent action is not taken.
Save the Children is calling on governments and donors to increase flexible funding for severe acute malnutrition treatment and to strengthen supply chains to prevent catastrophic shortages.
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