Unicef running out of life-saving food aid for children in Ethiopia, Nigeria
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Unicef says it will run out of its supply of life-saving food for children in Ethiopia and Nigeria within the next two months.
PHOTO: REUTERS
GENEVA – UN children’s agency Unicef said on March 21 that it will run out of its supply of life-saving food to treat children suffering from acute forms of malnutrition in Ethiopia and Nigeria within the next two months due to a lack of funding exacerbated by Trump administration cuts to foreign aid.
Around 1.3 million children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition risk losing access to life-saving support in 2025 in Ethiopia and Nigeria, Unicef says.
“Without new funding, we will run out of our supply chain of ready-to-use-therapeutic-food by May, and that means 70,000 children in Ethiopia that depend on this type of treatment cannot be served,” Ms Kitty Van der Heijden, Unicef’s deputy executive director, told reporters in Geneva via video link from Abuja on March 21.
“Interruption to continuous treatment is life-threatening.”
In Nigeria, Unicef said it may run out of supplies to feed 80,000 malnourished children as soon as the end of March.
Ms Van der Heijden described being in a hospital in Maiduguri recently with a child who was so malnourished that her skin was falling off.
International donors have in recent years reduced contributions to UN agencies, including Unicef.
Its funding woes were accelerated when the US, its top donor, imposed a 90-day pause on all US foreign aid on the first day of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January.
That action and ensuing orders halting many programmes of the US Agency for International Development worldwide have jeopardised the delivery of life-saving food and medical aid, throwing into chaos global humanitarian relief efforts.
“This funding crisis will become a child survival crisis,” warned Ms Van der Heijden, adding that the sudden nature of the cuts did not give the agency the ability to mitigate the risks.
Funding cuts have also hit health programmes offering nutrition and malaria care for pregnant women and children in Ethiopia. A total of 23 mobile health clinics were taken out of operation in the region of Afar, with only seven left operating due to funding cuts, according to Unicef. REUTERS
