New York, NY, March 24, 2025 — As the international community gathers this week for the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit in Paris, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) urges world leaders to take immediate, bold action to avert millions of preventable child deaths from extreme hunger. Today, 45 million children under age 5 are acutely malnourished, with children who suffer from severe acute malnutrition facing a risk of death up to 9 to 11 times higher than their healthy peers.
As global food insecurity mounts worldwide, nutrition programming around the world is at risk with US funding cuts, with programs shuttering and disruptions to critical assistance taking place across some of the world’s toughest contexts.
The IRC manages dozens of stabilization centers for severely malnourished children with medical complications around the world, many of which are currently facing closures or disruptions due to funding cuts, supply chain breaks, stock-outs to ready-to-use therapeutic food, and logistical challenges. These centers treat as many as 1,000 children per month, all in ICU-like conditions. Even momentary disruption to treatment can be fatal for what IRC considers its most vulnerable clients.
Severe RUTF shortages are already threatening services across many IRC programs in Africa and the Middle East; another dozen are expecting shortfalls over the next 3 months, as an estimated 1 million cartons of US-produced RUTF sit idle in warehouses due to supply chain disruptions.
Key Calls to Action at N4G:
The international community must safeguard the progress that has been made over the past 20 years in fighting the scourge of child hunger - while driving lasting, systemic changes. The IRC is calling for the following urgent actions:
- Address the Nutrition Funding Crisis: Mobilize and secure sustainable complementary public and private financing to address urgent funding gaps, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities outlined in national nutrition plans and global nutrition initiatives.
- Reinforce Ministry of Health and Community Health Systems. Support local health systems to ensure sustainability and independence. Implement context-specific, cost-effective strategies—such as simplified treatment protocols—that can reduce treatment costs by up to 36% per child, enabling more children to be reached with fewer resources.
- Ensure the Availability of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF): Strengthen the RUTF supply chain by driving locally led solutions to supply chain disruptions, promoting the use of one standardized treatment product and ensure timely availability at the last mile to increase impact and cost efficiency. Without action, thousands of children may face life-threatening delays in treatment.
- Promote Global Nutrition Accountability: Bolster monitoring and evaluation systems, including the Nutrition Accountability Framework, to ensure transparent, responsible use of nutrition funds and maximize the impact of every dollar invested.
Dr. Mesfin Teklu Tessema, Senior Technical Director, Health at the IRC, said:
“The Nutrition for Growth Summit must be a turning point. The decisions made today will determine whether millions of vulnerable children live or die. Malnutrition treatment is a cost-effective intervention and saves lives. – and is one of the most impactful ways to buttress both global health outcomes and economic growth. World leaders must step up with urgency and purpose—to address critical funding gaps in malnutrition treatment, to localize and strengthen supply chains, and to build resilient health systems that will safeguard the future of every child.”
The IRC stands ready to partner with governments, donors, and private sector actors to ensure that no child dies from malnutrition when the solutions are within our grasp.