Nearly 13 million children in East and Southern Africa suffer from acute malnutrition, with almost 4 million facing its most lethal form, UNICEF has reported.
The agency warns that funding shortages totalling $110 million for nutritional supplies threaten to worsen the crisis, with stocks of critical therapeutic food expected to run out by mid-2025 in the hardest-hit countries.
“What we are witnessing is a malnutrition crisis which is being exacerbated by the global funding crisis,” said UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Etleva Kadilli.
“This is not the time to scale down our support, it is the time to significantly scale up.”
The crisis affects one in three children across the region, many surviving on just one or two food groups daily. UNICEF attributes the widespread malnutrition to extreme climate shocks, insecurity, economic instability and reduced humanitarian funding.
Somalia faces particularly severe conditions with 4.4 million people – nearly a quarter of its population – experiencing crisis-level hunger.
Approximately 1.7 million Somali children are expected to suffer acute malnutrition this year, including 460,000 with severe acute malnutrition.
In South Sudan, over 2 million children under five risk acute malnutrition, a 26% increase from 2024.
Cases of severe acute malnutrition have risen 33% to 650,000 children. An additional million pregnant and breastfeeding women face acute malnutrition, with numbers expected to climb amid ongoing instability.
Ethiopia, despite UNICEF and partners reaching nearly 3 million malnourished children and women last year, continues to struggle with prolonged drought and regional conflicts that threaten to increase malnutrition rates.
The impending shortage of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), a high-energy fortified paste essential for treating severe malnutrition, poses the greatest immediate threat.
“Due to donor generosity, we were able to treat more than 2.2 million children suffering from severe wasting in 2024,” Kadilli said, “but we need your continued investments not only in curative interventions but also around building community nutritional resilience.”
UNICEF’s long-term response includes prevention strategies, integrated interventions for access to nutritious food, safe water and basic healthcare, and addressing root causes of regional malnutrition.
In 2024, UNICEF provided counselling to 58 million caregivers on infant and young child feeding practices and screened 215 million children and 27 million pregnant women for wasting across Eastern and Southern Africa.
By Winston Mwale, AfricaBrief