News Center- Reductions in donor funding threaten the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children and women.

At least 14 million children are expected to face disruptions to nutrition support and services because of recent and expected global funding cuts, leaving them at heightened risk of severe malnutrition and death, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Wednesday.

“Over the last decades, we have made impressive progress in reducing child malnutrition globally because of a shared commitment and sustained investment,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Since 2000, the number of stunted children under the age of five has fallen by 55 million, and the lives of millions of severely malnourished children have been saved. But steep funding cuts will dramatically reverse these gains and put the lives of millions more children at risk.”

According to initial analyses issued by UNICEF on Wednesday, more than 2.4 million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition could go without Ready-to-use-Therapeutic-Food (RUTF) for the remainder of 2025. Up to 2,300 life-saving stabilization centers, providing critical care for children suffering from severe wasting with medical complications, are at risk of closing or severely scaling back services. Almost 28,000 UNICEF-supported outpatient therapeutic centers for the treatment of malnutrition are at risk, and in some cases have already stopped operating.

“UNICEF is calling on governments and donors to prioritise investments in health and nutrition programmes for children and is urging national governments to allocate more funding to domestic nutrition and health services. Good nutrition is the foundation of child survival and development, with impressive returns on investment. Dividends will be measured in stronger families, societies and countries, and a more stable world,” said Catherine Russell.