UK-funded therapeutic food arrives in Laos to treat 3,500 children with severe malnutrition

The UK government and UNICEF handed 3,500 cartons of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) to the Lao Ministry of Health in Savannakhet Province on 2 November, UNICEF said the next day. The supply, funded with GBP 200,000 (US$268,097) in UK Aid, is enough to treat about 3,500 children under 5 with severe acute malnutrition in Savannakhet, Saravan and Sekong provinces.

Wasting in children has nearly doubled

Child wasting in Laos has risen sharply. Among children under 5, it went from 5.9% in 2011–12 to 10.7% in 2023, a level the World Health Organization classifies as high. Savannakhet is among the hardest hit: 16.4% of children under 5 there are wasted and 4.3% severely wasted, according to the 2023 Lao Social Indicator Survey (LSIS-III).

“Severe acute malnutrition is treatable, and no child in Lao PDR should die from it.” — Dr Vannasay Sattakoun, Vice Minister of Health, Lao PDR

Children with severe malnutrition face a far higher risk of death

The 3,500 cartons match the roughly 3,500 children the supply is meant to treat. Treatment matters because children with severe acute malnutrition are about 12 times more likely to die than well-nourished children, UNICEF said. Savannakhet is one of three priority provinces receiving UK-funded RUTF in 2026.

Thongsay Sayyavongkhamdy, vice governor of Savannakhet and chair of the Provincial Nutrition Committee, called the support timely because the province carries one of the heaviest burdens of severe malnutrition in the country. UK Ambassador Jemima Gordon-Duff said treating severe malnutrition is one of the most effective investments in a child's future.

Most children still go untreated

The gap remains large. An estimated 55,000 children in Laos suffer severe wasting each year, and fewer than 12% receive treatment. UNICEF runs the country's only RUTF supply pipeline, so any break in supply would put children at risk. UNICEF representative Bilal Aurang Zeb Durrani said the shared goal is care for every child who needs it, backed by sustainable national financing.

After the handover, the delegation was set to visit Atsaphangthong District, one of the first districts to roll out community-based treatment of acute malnutrition. The same treatment helped two-year-old Margaretha recover in South Papua.