UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell's remarks at The Child Malnutrition Crisis: Pledging to Save Lives event

UNICEF/UN0291546/FuadA child's arm is measured as part of the screening for malnutrition at a health centre in Yemen.

NEW YORK, 21 September 2022 - "Excellencies, distinguished guests, colleagues,

"I am very happy to welcome you to UNICEF for this critical discussion.

"I want to begin by thanking Administrator Samantha Power and the United States Government for their unflagging support of the most vulnerable children, and for co-hosting this event.

"I am deeply grateful for the support of our other valued partners and co-hosts, the government of Senegal and the Children's Investment Fund Foundation.

"We are here today to sound the alarm: An escalating malnutrition crisis is pushing millions of children to the brink of starvation - and unless we do more, that crisis will become a catastrophe.

"The situation is most acute across the Horn of Africa, in the Sahel - and especially in Somalia, where historic drought is causing skyrocketing rates of malnutrition.

"I saw the devastation when I visited the Horn in April - and since my visit, things have only gotten worse. We estimate that across the region, another child falls into severe malnutrition every 60 seconds.

"And Somalian families are on the brink of famine. Nearly half of the under-five population - 1.5 million children - in Somalia are likely to be suffering already from the most severe forms of malnutrition.

"In Ethiopia, we expect that number to be over 1 million. These are unprecedented numbers.

"We know that children have already died. Many more are at imminent risk. If we don't reach these children with ready-to-use therapeutic food and treatment, we face the very real possibility of young children dying on an almost unimaginable scale in the final months of this year.

"We need to stop this crisis from spiraling out of control.

"We are deeply grateful to the United States Government for stepping up support for the treatment of malnutrition.

"Their generous contribution of $200 million in July was the single largest contribution in history to make treatment with ready-to-use therapeutic food available to the children who desperately need it.

"These resources will enable UNICEF and our partners to reach an additional 2.4 million children.

"But in a massive, fast-moving crisis like this one, we need more resources to keep up.

"UNICEF is asking for a total of $1.2 billion to deliver a package of support to prevent, detect, and treat severe malnutrition in the 15 hardest-hit countries over the next year.

"Our first and most pressing priority is to meet the most urgent needs of children today. But if we don't do more to address the underlying causes of malnutrition, we will never break these deadly cycles.

"That means sustained investment to prevent child malnutrition early in life at scale - not just reacting to crises.

"Together with our partners, UNICEF is committing to creating the Child Nutrition Fund, the first-ever fund dedicated not only to tackling urgent needs, but also to preventing, detecting, and treating malnutrition in children sustainably.

"In 2020 we piloted an initial match fund for RUTF to incentivize domestic investment in countries where severe malnutrition frequently occurs. Demand rapidly outpaced the money available. It was only thanks to our partners at the Children's Investment Fund Foundation that we have been able to keep up with it.

"We are now expanding this Fund and adding more financial instruments - with the aim of doubling domestic investments to reach vulnerable children and women with prevention and treatment services and commodities.

"Our goal is for the Child Nutrition Fund to become the largest, centralized response to combat malnutrition at scale - and to streamline the often-complex landscape of prevention and treatment financing.

"Alongside scaling up life-saving interventions, we also need to invest in longer term resilience building - and anticipatory action. Past painful experience has shown that waiting for disaster to strike - or for famine to be declared - is a losing game, with the penalty paid in children's lives.

"We are calling on donors once again to commit to providing flexible, predictable funding so we can mobilize resources more quickly to save children's lives - and to prevent them from becoming severely malnourished at all.

"The worst challenges facing children aren't easy to solve. But we know how to save children from severe malnutrition and painful death.

"How can we fail to act? We cannot. And we will not.

"So, I thank you all again for being here today and for your commitment to children.

"And now I am very happy to call USAID Administrator Samantha Power to the stage - to thank her for her tireless advocacy for children. We could not ask for a better partner."