*The United Nations Children鈥檚 Agency says a total of 1.3 million children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition risk losing access to lifesaving support this year in Ethiopia and Nigeria

Alexander Davis | 绿帽献妻

The United Nations Children鈥檚 Agency (UNICEF) has said lack of funding worsened by President Donald Trump administration鈥檚 recent cuts to foreign aid will affect the supply of lifesaving food items to treat 80,000 children suffering from acute forms of malnutrition in Nigeria in the next two months.

UNICEF, which disclosed this development Friday, March 21, 2025, noted that a total of 1.3 million children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition risk losing access to lifesaving support this year in Ethiopia and Nigeria.

Kitty Van der Heijden, Deputy Executive Director at UNICEF, told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, revealed this via video link from Abuja last Friday.

Van der Heijden stated: 鈥淲ithout new funding, we will run out of our supply chain of Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic-Food by May, and that means that 70,000 children in Ethiopia that depend on this type of treatment cannot be served.

鈥淚nterruption to continuous treatment is life-threatening.鈥�

UNICEF also said that it might run out of needed supplies to feed 80,000 malnourished children as soon as the end of March this year.

Van der Heijden described recently being in a hospital in Maiduguri with a child who was so malnourished that her skin was falling off.

Reuters reports that international donors have in recent years reduced contributions to UN agencies, including UNICEF.

Insight into the status quo

The agency鈥檚 funding woes were accelerated when the United States, its top donor, imposed a 90-day pause on all US foreign aid on the first day of President Donald Trump鈥檚 return to the White House January.

That action, and ensuing orders halting many programmes of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) worldwide, have jeopardised the delivery of lifesaving food and medical aid, throwing into chaos global humanitarian relief efforts.

Van der Heijden also observed 鈥渢his funding crisis will become a child survival crisis鈥�, stating that the sudden nature of the cuts did not give the agency the ability to mitigate the risks in the affected countries, agency report said.

Funding cuts have also hit health programmes offering nutrition and malaria care for pregnant women and children in Ethiopia.

It is equally noted that 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.

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