Nutrition

In South Sudan, USAID partner the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) provides Ready-to- Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) to a severely malnourished child.

Photo credit: UNICEF South Sudan

USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA) is at the forefront of the humanitarian community's efforts to prevent and treat wasting, the deadliest form of malnutrition. USAID/BHA-supported programs are community-based, linked to local health systems, and use evidence-based approaches that decrease morbidity and mortality resulting from malnutrition. USAID/BHA supported humanitarian nutrition activities to help manage acute malnutrition, as well as improve nutrition practices and services in more than 30 countries during FY 2021, including Resilience Food Security Activities implemented in eight countries.

Most of USAID/BHA's nutrition programs are based in the Horn of Africa and western Africa's Sahel region, two areas where recurring droughts have severely affected communities' ability to produce and purchase enough diverse foods, thereby increasing the risk of spikes in wasting prevalence among vulnerable populations.