Up to 600,000 additional children worldwide could be left without access to life-saving treatment for severe acute malnutrition due to the rising costs of raw ingredients in part due to increasing fuel prices and the Ukraine war, the United Nations Children’s Fund has warned.
In a news release Sunday, UNICEF said the price of ready-to-use therapeutic food is projected to rise up to 16% over the next six months due to the higher cost of raw ingredients. Other factors, including pandemic supply chain disruptions and drought, have added to the rising prices, according to the release.
The ready-to-use therapeutic food, known as RUTF, is an energy dense paste made of peanuts, sugar, oil and milk powder. Russia and Ukraine are key agricultural producers and exporters, but the war in Ukraine is blocking supply lines.
“Even before the war in Ukraine placed a strain on food security worldwide, conflict, climate shocks and COVID-19 were already wreaking havoc on families’ ability to feed their children,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in the release.
“The world is rapidly becoming a virtual tinderbox of preventable child deaths and child suffering from wasting.”
UNICEF estimates at least 10 million children affected by severe wasting don’t have access to RUTF.
