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At least four African countries will run out of specialised life-saving food for severely malnourished children in the next three months due to shortages caused by aid cuts, Save the Children said on Thursday.
Supplies were getting dangerously low in Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan of high-energy biscuits, peanut-based Plumpy'Nut paste and other treatments known as Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), the British-based aid group said.
"At a time when global hunger is sky-rocketing, the funding that could save children's lives has been cut because of recent aid cuts," Yvonne Arunga, the charity's regional director for East and Southern Africa, said.
Save the Children did not name specific donors or funding reductions in its statement. Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. has slashed humanitarian assistance this year, and other Western powers have also been cutting funding as part of longer-term reductions.
Trump has said cuts to humanitarian aid are needed to ensure that grants align with his "America First" agenda and that other countries shoulder more of the burden.
"At a time when global hunger is sky-rocketing, the funding that could save children's lives has been cut because of recent aid cuts," Yvonne Arunga, the charity's regional director for East and Southern Africa, said.
Save the Children did not name specific donors or funding reductions in its statement. Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. has slashed humanitarian assistance this year, and other Western powers have also been cutting funding as part of longer-term reductions.
Trump has said cuts to humanitarian aid are needed to ensure that grants align with his "America First" agenda and that other countries shoulder more of the burden.
The U.S. government later agreed to hand over 600 tons of the biscuits to the U.N. World Food Programme but said it would have to destroy nearly 500 tons which expired last month.
Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department announced it would provide $93 million for RUTF supplies to treat more than 800,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in 13 countries, including Nigeria, Sudan, Kenya and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Reporting by Aaron Ross and Ammu Kannampilly; Additional reporting by Benjamin Ezeamalu in Lagos; Editing by Andrew Heavens
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