United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, is calling for immediate and concerted efforts to tackle the alarming nutrition crisis affecting almost 13 million children with acute malnutrition in Eastern and Southern Africa, where nearly four million children are estimated to suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), the most lethal form of undernutrition.

Every child has the right to a nutritious diet, yet across the region, one in three children today is living in severe food poverty, the agency says.

This means the children are surviving on one or two food groups a day, and on some days even less. The region faces high levels of child malnutrition driven by a combination of extreme climate shocks, insecurity, economic instability and funding cuts to life-saving nutrition assistance for communities in need.

A statement to newsrooms indicates that in Somalia, the situation is particularly dire. According to the latest humanitarian situation report, an estimated 4.4 million people, nearly a quarter of Somalia’s population, will experience crisis-levels of hunger, with 1.7 million children expected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year.

Of these, more than 460,000 children are projected to face SAM. Two thirds of children are living in severe food poverty.

The ongoing poor rainfall, coupled with high food prices and conflict, is exacerbating the crisis, leaving families struggling to access essential nutrition as well as water, sanitation, hygiene and health services.

“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.

Kadilli says, “Children have a right to nutrition and despite the challenges UNICEF and partners are facing, we are still working tirelessly to provide nutritional services to the most vulnerable. This is not the time to scale down our support, it is in fact the time to significantly scale up.”

In South Sudan, malnutrition among children under five as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women, remains a critical concern. This year, over two million children under five are at risk of acute malnutrition (both moderate and severe acute malnutrition), a 26 per cent increase from 2024.

Of those, 650,000 children under five are at risk of the severest form, reflecting a 33 per cent rise compared to 2024. Additionally, an estimated one million pregnant and breastfeeding women are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition. With the current instability and displacement in the country, these numbers are expected to increase.

In 2024, UNICEF, together with government and non-governmental partners, reached nearly three million malnourished children and women in Ethiopia through supplementary and therapeutic feeding programmes.

Among this group, over 600,000 children were affected by SAM, while 1.3 million suffered from moderate malnutrition. Additionally, over 700,000 pregnant and breastfeeding mothers received treatment for acute malnutrition.

Given the ongoing conflict in various regions and the prolonged drought, malnutrition cases among children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women are expected to increase significantly.

Despite efforts to provide life-saving nutritional support across the region, funding shortages are hampering efforts to reach all those in need, with an estimated US$110 million gap for supplies.

This includes stocks of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), a high-energy fortified paste essential for the treatment of SAM, which are expected to run out by mid-2025 in Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan, putting millions of children at risk of dying.

“We are grateful to donors and partners who have been supporting UNICEF’s nutrition programmes,” Kadilli says. “Due to their generosity, we were able to treat more than 2.2 million children suffering from severe wasting in 2024, but we need your continued investments not only in curative interventions, but also around building community nutritional resilience which is more critical than ever,” she added.

UNICEF’s long-term response plan includes strengthening efforts to prevent malnutrition, enhancing integrated interventions, including access to nutritious food, safe water, basic healthcare and teaching healthy hygiene practices.

The organization also has firm commitments with stakeholders to address the root causes of malnutrition in Eastern and Southern Africa.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Joseph Ng’ang’a