U.S. Aid Cuts Leave Kenyan Children Fighting for Survival

Post by : Saif Nasser

In Kenya’s dry and harsh Turkana region, many parents are fighting a daily battle to keep their children alive. One of them is 30-year-old Hellen Etiman, who believed her four-year-old son, Peter Lokoyen, was finally getting better after starting a special treatment for severe malnutrition. But everything changed when the clinic ran out of supplies of the life-saving peanut-based food he needed.

Peter soon relapsed, leaving his family with no choice but to search for wild fruits in the dry plains around their village. By late October, Peter weighed only 11.4 kilograms — far below the healthy weight for a child his age. His younger sister, not even two years old, had already grown nearly as tall as him.

This heartbreaking situation reflects a much wider crisis caused by major cuts in U.S. foreign aid. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and reduced global aid programmes. These cuts disrupted the supply chain for ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), the peanut paste used around the world to treat severely malnourished children.

Before the cuts, the U.S. funded nearly half of the global RUTF supply. For thousands of families across Kenya and other African countries, this paste was often the only hope for survival. When the funding stopped, clinics in Turkana and other regions were left with empty shelves and long waiting lists.

Aid groups and health workers say the shortages they are now seeing are unlike anything before. Some children are reaching hospitals in critical condition because community screening programmes — also funded by the U.S. — were stopped. Without early detection, many children arrive too late to be saved.

UNICEF, the world’s biggest buyer of RUTF, said most of the U.S. funding was restored in March. But recovery takes time. When Reuters visited seven health clinics in Turkana in October, almost all of them had little or no RUTF left. Some facilities had only one last carton remaining.

Kenya is considered one of East Africa’s strongest economies and often shelters refugees from nearby war-torn countries like Somalia and Sudan. Yet even here, the supply breakdown has pushed families to the brink. Aid experts warn that if such shortages can happen in Kenya, the consequences may be far worse in poorer and less stable countries.

Malnutrition has long-term effects that go beyond hunger. Children who go months without proper treatment may face stunted growth, weak immunity, and permanent brain development problems. These issues can affect them for life, limiting their ability to learn, grow, and work as adults.

While UNICEF has recently delivered new supplies to some clinics, many families are still waiting. For children like Peter, the delay can mean the difference between life and death.

Aid groups in other African countries like Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo have also reported several deaths of malnourished children after U.S.-funded programmes were suspended earlier in the year. The U.S. government has denied these claims, but local health workers say the reality on the ground tells a different story.

The global aid landscape is also changing. Many European countries, including Britain, Germany, France, Sweden, and the Netherlands, have cut foreign aid budgets in recent years to focus more on domestic issues. With multiple countries pulling back at the same time, fragile regions like Turkana face increasing danger.

For parents in Kenya’s drought-stricken communities, the priority is simple: they want their children to survive. But without steady international support, the chances of recovery for thousands of malnourished children remain uncertain.

The crisis shows how decisions made far away — in political offices and government meetings — can create life-or-death situations for families in remote villages. As global aid funding becomes less dependable, the world’s most vulnerable children risk being left behind.

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