Nearly two million children suffering from severe wasting are at risk of death due to funding shortages for life-saving Ready-to-use-Therapeutic-Food (RUTF) to treat the condition, which is the most dangerous form of malnutrition. The warning comes from UN children’s agency UNICEF which said levels of severe wasting in children under five remain gravely high in several countries due to conflict, economic shocks and climate crises.
Severe wasting – also known as severe acute malnutrition – is caused by a lack of nutritious and safe foods and repeated bouts of disease, such as diarrhoea, measles and malaria. Children become dangerously thin, and their weak immune systems make them vulnerable to growth failure, poor development, and death. RUTF is an energy dense, micronutrient paste made from powdered milk, peanuts, butter, vegetable oil, sugar, and a mix of vitamins and minerals.
It has helped bring millions of children back from the brink of death from severe malnutrition. “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 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 who are fighting this silent killer.”
UNICEF said shortages of RUTF are already leaving 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, while Cameroon, Pakistan, Sudan, Madagascar, South Sudan, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda could run out of stock by mid-2025.The situation in Africa’s Sahel region is exacerbated by prolonged droughts, floods, and erratic rainfall. This is leading to food shortages and high food prices and, subsequently, higher levels of severe wasting.
Source: The UN
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