FOREIGN AID CUTS

At a time when nearly 200 million children worldwide rely on lifesaving assistance, some of the world’s wealthiest countries are turning their backs on children and cutting their aid budgets.

These sudden funding cuts are putting children in life threatening situations.

We’ve had to make heart-breaking decisions to pause programmes that treat severely malnourished children or that provide medical care to new-born babies living in war zones. Women living in refugee camps have had to give birth without any medical assistance. Vaccination programmes have ground to a halt.

In one country, we’re already seeing girls drop out of school as our child marriage programmes have been impacted. In another, we’re witnessing the spread of mpox as our health clinics have had to shut their doors.

Foreign aid isn’t just about survival today, it's about hope for tomorrow. When aid is cut, we don’t just take away immediate lifesaving help – we deepen global insecurity, fuelling displacement, economic shocks and conflict. When we turn our backs on the world’s most vulnerable, we sow the seeds of future crises that will inevitably reach our own shores, and children always bear the brunt.

With fewer resources and a decline in global assistance, the road ahead is going to be harder. But we are more determined than ever to defend the rights of children, to save lives, to protect families and communities, to alleviate suffering, and to restore dignity.

We are working tirelessly to find new solutions, so that children don't arrive at closed health clinics, go without food or face trauma alone.

Standing up for children’s rights is our history, present, and future. We aren’t going to stop now.

The world may be uncertain, but one thing remains true: we will always be there for children. We believe in a world where kindness and solidarity overcomes mistrust and othering — a world where every child’s life matters.

Actions, not words, will make this world a reality. We need governments, partners, and our community around the world to financially invest in children and their futures. With your voice, your time and your generosity, we can create a world where every child is safe, healthy and happy. Because what’s more important?

We have been forced to immediately stop our lifesaving work – while children are facing extreme hunger in Sudan. While war and heavy fighting continue to rage in the Democratic Republic of Congo. While families in Lebanon and Syria are fighting to survive and rebuild. And when climate change is threatening millions of children’s lives and futures around the globe.

Our lifesaving work must continue so we can help children survive, learn and be protected. But the funding gaps we’re now facing could force us to close down programmes that are a lifeline to children.

Aid cuts mean there is a global shortage of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, which is used to treat severe malnutrition.  

Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food is a special paste, high in micronutrients, that has the power to boost children’s strength when they’ve been weakened by malnutrition. Over the past 30 years this special paste has saved the lives of millions of children facing acute malnutrition.  

Funding shortfalls mean these essential nutrition packs are not reaching the children who desperately need them, leaving millions at risk. Without treatment, severe malnutrition kills. It is responsible for 1 in 5 deaths of children under the age of five, making it one of the top threats to child survival.    

Save the Children is urgently trying to raise $7 million to provide 110,000 severely malnourished children with lifesaving treatment.  

For just $67, you could supply a hungry child with a 6-week course of lifesaving peanut paste treatment.

We know we can have an incredible impact when we come together to support children in crisis. Childhood hunger and malnutrition is not a lost cause.

We have the expertise and the track record to reach children around the world but what we urgently need now is the funding to ensure children can receive life-saving treatment. 

Standing up for children’s rights is our history, present, and future. For over 100 years, we have been dedicated to our mission, working in the toughest, hardest to reach places to support children where they are, ensuring they are safe, healthy, and learning, no matter what. 

We have always been among the first to respond to emergencies and have helped secure policy changes that improve children’s lives. We’re proud of what we have achieved alongside children and their communities, our partners and supporters.  

We always adapt to change, and the recent cuts in foreign aid don't change that. While our challenges are huge, our determination to protect children is even greater.

But we cannot do it alone. Together, we can save our lifesaving work. Together, we can save children’s futures.