UNICEF seeks $165 million to help fight silent killers

The warning comes from the UN children’s agency UNICEF, saying the severity of wasting among children under five remains very high in several countries due to conflict, economic shocks and climate crises.

Deadly condition

Severe emaciation – also called severe acute malnutrition – is caused by a lack of nutritious and safe foods and repeated bouts of illness such as diarrhea, measles and malaria.

Children become dangerously thin and their weak immune systems make them vulnerable to stunted growth, poor development and death.

RUTF is an energy-rich micronutrient paste made from milk powder, peanuts, butter, vegetable oil, sugar and a mixture of vitamins and minerals.

It has helped bring millions of children back from the brink of death from severe malnutrition.

“Over the past two years, an unprecedented global response has enabled the expansion of nutrition programs to curb child wasting and associated mortality in countries severely affected by conflict, climate and economic shocks, and the resulting maternal and child nutrition crises are,” he said Victor Aguayo, UNICEF Director of Child Nutrition and Development Victor Aguayo.

“But Urgent action is needed now to save the lives of nearly two million children fighting this silent killer.”

Supplies are running out

According to UNICEF, due to the lack of RUTF, children in the 12 most affected countries are already at risk of not receiving treatment.

Mali, Nigeria, Niger and Chad are either already stockpiling or are about to do so, while Cameroon, Pakistan, Sudan, Madagascar, South Sudan, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda could run out of supplies by mid-2025.

The situation in the African Sahel region is exacerbated by persistent droughts, floods and erratic rainfall. This leads to food shortages and high food prices and, as a result, higher levels of severe waste.

For example, over 300,000 children under five in Mali are expected to suffer from severe wasting this year, but feeding programs ran out of RUTF supplies at the end of July.

Meanwhile, the government in Chad declared a food and nutrition emergency in February and it is estimated that more than 500,000 children under five will suffer from severe wasting this year. Provinces with large refugee populations are particularly affected.

Between January and August, around 315,000 children were treated in the country. Although the need remains urgent, RUTF supplies could be depleted by the end of this month.

“No time to waste”

UNICEF is seeking $165 million to fund therapeutic nutrition, treatment and care for the two million children at risk of death in an update to its No Time to Waste plan.

The initiative was launched in 2022 to respond to the global food and nutrition crisis. Since then, UNICEF has raised over $900 million to expand programs, services and supplies for the early prevention, detection and treatment of child wasting.

As a result, 21.5 million children and women received basic serviceswhile 46 million children have been reached with early detection services And 5.6 million people received life-saving treatment.

“No Time to Waste” 2024 describes the urgent funding constraints that are putting young people’s lives at risk. The appeal also highlights the need for continuity in local production of essential foodstuffs, which is crucial to sustaining interventions and improving community resilience to malnutrition.

Children’s Nutrition Fund

To address severe child malnutrition in the long term, UNICEF launched the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) last year with support from the United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.

CNF goals include supporting local and regional production of fortified foods, nutritional supplements and RUTF for young children in areas with high levels of child malnutrition to avoid global supply chain disruptions, reduce the environmental impact of shipping, and promote employment opportunities and economic growth within communities.

Once fully implemented, the CNF will help protect countries from funding shortages and demand fluctuations that are currently causing some of the growing RUTF shortages.