Millions of children across Africa face the risk of death from severe malnutrition as supplies of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) are expected to run out within three months due to funding cuts, Save the Children has warned.
The agency said at least four countries – Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan – could exhaust their stocks of the life-saving “wonder food,” leaving severely wasted children without critical treatment.
RUTF is an energy-dense peanut-based paste fortified with vitamins and minerals. Packaged in foil pouches with a long shelf life, it has been used for decades to treat severely malnourished children, saving millions of lives. A child suffering acute malnutrition is nine times more likely to die from common infections than a well-nourished child.
In Nigeria, an estimated 3.5 million children under five are experiencing severe acute malnutrition. Save the Children said at least 629,000 cartons of RUTF are required during the June–November lean season, but only 64% of this has been secured. “We require at least 3,000 cartons every month for our programmes, but funding cuts in 2025 have multiplied the severity of needs and limited access to lifesaving support,” the agency said.
Kenya faces a similar crisis, particularly in Turkana County, where repeated droughts and floods have worsened food insecurity. About 105,000 cartons of RUTF are needed through the end of 2025, but only 77% of this has been met, with stocks projected to run out by October.
“We have tried to source therapeutic food from other facilities so we can fully support our children who are very, very malnourished. And if they are not supported, I know very soon we will be losing them,” said Sister Winnie, who runs a Save the Children-supported health clinic in Turkana.
In Somalia, nearly 1.8 million children under five are at risk of malnutrition, with one in eight requiring urgent RUTF treatment or admission to stabilization centres. Yet only 39% of the required nutrition funding for 2025 has been received. Aid agencies warn that by September, many nutrition programmes could be forced to scale down.
South Sudan is also in crisis, with 2.3 million children under five suffering acute malnutrition – a 10.5% increase from last year. About 714,000 are at risk of severe acute malnutrition, but only one-third of those needing treatment were reached between January and July due to the closure of 15% of nutrition facilities.
Yvonne Arunga, Save the Children’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, said the consequences are devastating for families.
“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,” she said.
“Hunger knows no borders and no limits. At a time when global hunger is skyrocketing, the funding that could save children’s lives has been cut, leading to a global shortage of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food.”
Globally, the collapse in nutrition funding is expected to cut off treatment for 15.6 million people across 18 countries in 2025, including 2.3 million severely malnourished children. The situation is predicted to worsen in 2026.
Save the Children, which has been providing nutritional support for over a century, is calling on the international community to step up. The organization urged governments and donors to increase flexible funding for severe acute malnutrition treatment and strengthen supply chains to ensure uninterrupted delivery of RUTF.
