Save the Children says conflict, climate shocks and shrinking aid budgets are leaving millions of children at risk as just 31% of funding needed for the gravest nutrition emergencies has been committed.
Save the Children has warned that hunger is becoming one of the most damaging and preventable threats to childhood, as it launched a campaign to raise funds for emergency food, clean water and medical care for children in crisis-hit areas. The charity said that one in four children under five worldwide still live with severe food poverty in early childhood, while acute malnutrition affects 43 million children in the same age group.
The organisation said the scale of need is being matched by a dangerous shortfall in support. At the start of October, just 31% of the $10 billion needed for the most serious nutrition emergencies had been committed, or about $3.1 billion, leaving a vast gap in funding for life-saving programmes. Save the Children said malnutrition in the first years of life can cause permanent harm to a child’s health and development.
The charity linked the crisis to conflict, climate change and cuts to aid budgets. It said wars force families from their homes and cut them off from food systems, while extreme weather destroys harvests, disrupts access to water and pushes up prices. Save the Children also said that 23.1 million people in emergency food insecurity last year were in conflict-affected countries, including Gaza and Sudan.
The wider humanitarian picture is worsening as aid systems come under pressure. Save the Children said funding for humanitarian assistance has fallen sharply in recent years, leaving about two million children with severe acute malnutrition without treatment. It warned that if financing falls further, the consequences could be catastrophic, with millions more deaths projected by 2030, including 5.4 million children under five.
Daniela Fatarella, Save the Children’s director-general, said the world could be facing what may become the gravest food emergency of the 21st century, but added that malnutrition is neither inevitable nor unsolvable. The charity argued that stronger food security, better health systems and faster crisis response could prevent emergencies from turning into mass tragedies. Its campaign, Emergenza Fame, is running from 15 October to 15 November and allows supporters in Italy to donate by text message to fund therapeutic food, drinking water and medical treatment for malnourished children.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
