Lives of 80,000 malnourished children in Nigeria threatened, warns UNICEF

UNICEF has warned that a shortage of funding, worsened by cuts to foreign aid under former US President Donald Trump, could leave 80,000 severely malnourished children in Nigeria without crucial food supplies within the next two months.

The charity said that 1.3 million children in Nigeria and Ethiopia are at risk of losing access to life-saving aid this year, with many facing severe malnutrition.

Without additional funding, UNICEF could run out of its supply of Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic-Food (RUTF) by May, leaving 70,000 children in Ethiopia without the treatment they depend on. UNICEF’s deputy director, Kitty Van der Heijden, warned that a disruption in treatment could be life-threatening.

In Nigeria, the situation is equally dire, with supplies for 80,000 children set to run out as early as the end of this month. Van der Heijden described her visit to a hospital in Maiduguri, where she saw a child so malnourished that her skin was falling off.

Funding shortages have been worsened by a reduction in contributions from international donors, especially after the US halted foreign aid in January under President Trump’s administration. This freeze has caused major disruptions to global humanitarian aid, including essential food and medical supplies.

“This funding crisis will become a child survival crisis,” Van der Heijden said, explaining that the sudden cuts have left UNICEF unable to prepare for the impacts.

Cuts to health programmes, such as mobile health clinics for pregnant women and children in Ethiopia, have also left vulnerable communities without vital support.