Charity says 400,000 children in Syria risk 'severe malnutrition' after US cuts

Save the Children said on Wednesday that more than 400,000 children in Syria were at risk of "severe malnutrition" after the United States suspended aid, forcing the charity to slash operations in the war-torn country.

Bujar Hoxha, Save the Children's Syria director, in a statement called on the international community to urgently fill the funding gap, warning that needs were "higher than ever" after years of war and economic collapse.

"More than 416,000 children in Syria are now at significant risk of severe malnutrition following the sudden suspension of foreign aid," Save the Children said in a statement, adding separately that the cuts were those of the United States.

A Syrian man carries a child as they cross a river into Akkar, Lebanon, on Tuesday. AP

The global aid situation has grown dire since US President Donald Trump ordered the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development early this year.

His administration scrapped 83 percent of humanitarian programmes funded by USAID.

The agency had an annual budget of $42.8 billion, representing 42 percent of total global humanitarian aid.
The suspension has "forced the closure of one third of Save the Children's life-saving nutrition activities" across Syria, the charity said, halting "vital care for over 40,500 children" aged under five.

Hoxha said the closure of the charity's nutrition centres "comes at the worst possible time" with "the needs in Syria are higher than ever."

Its clinics that are still open are "reporting a surge in malnutrition cases while struggling to keep up with the growing demand for care", the charity added.

More than 13 years of conflict in Syria ravaged the country, with the health system shattered and infrastructure hobbled.

In February, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report estimated that nine out of 10 Syrians now live in poverty and face food insecurity with "malnutrition on the rise, particularly among children."

Save the Children said more than 650,000 children under five in Syria were now "chronically malnourished," while more than 7.5 million children nationwide needed humanitarian assistance, which it said was the highest number since the crisis began.

Hoxha urged the international community to "urgently step up" to fill the funding gap.

Syrian children "are paying the price for decisions made thousands of miles away", Hoxha added in the statement.

Agence France-Presse