US aid cuts disrupt life-saving treatment for starving children in Kenya

Hellen Etiman, a Kenyan pastoralist, believed her severely malnourished son would soon recover after starting a course of life-saving specialised food.

Instead, 4-year-old Peter Lokoyen relapsed in July when the health facility treating him ran out of supplies, leaving the family to rely on wild fruit foraged in the barren plains of Turkana county, in the country's northwest.

By late October, he weighed 11.4kg (25.13 lb) - a third less than the median for boys his age listed by the World Health Organization - and measured just over 87cm (2.85 ft). His 20-month-old sister, Melvine, was nearly as tall as he was.

President Donald Trump’s decision to dismantle the US Agency for International Development and slash global aid programmes severed a lifeline for children like Peter, five current and former aid officials told Reuters.

The US agency was funding the purchase and distribution of roughly half the world’s supply of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), a nutrient-dense, peanut-based paste used to treat children with the most lethal form of undernourishment, known as severe acute malnutrition or wasting.

UNICEF, the world's largest buyer and distributor of RUTF, said drought was increasing demand for the nutritious paste in parts of Kenya, while funding cuts for community outreach to screen for malnutrition meant children were reaching health facilities in more critical condition.

Most of its funding for RUTF supplies was restored in March, the UN children's agency told Reuters, saying shortages at some facilities were related to "short-term operational issues".