Source: Save the Children
Over 2.7 million children aged under five in Pakistan are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition before September, as areas of the country still struggle to recover from devastating floods in 2025, Save the Children said. [1]
The new analysis from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the world’s leading authority on hunger monitoring, further found that about 706,000 children out of the 2.7 million in 45 rural districts assessed in three provinces are predicted to suffer from severe acute malnutrition before September this year.
Severe acute malnutrition – the most dangerous and deadly form of hunger – is a life-threatening condition that requires urgent medical attention and specialised treatment.
Additionally, 232,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women will need treatment for acute malnutrition before September this year, putting the mother’s own health at risk and increasing the risk of poor growth and development of her baby. [1]
The analysis shows that children aren’t becoming dangerously malnourished only because families are struggling to afford enough food. Many children are also getting sick more often, missing out on optimal feeding practices in early childhood, and not receiving the nutrition services they need – all of which are making the crisis even more severe.
This is creating conditions where life-threatening malnutrition becomes a very real and urgent danger. In nearly two-thirds of the districts analysed, levels of acute malnutrition among children are critical.Some of these districts were impacted by deadly floods last year. More than 1,000 people were killed by the floods, including 283 children, with the highest death toll in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where over 500 people lost their lives between June and October 2025.[2]
Khuram Gondal, Country Director, Save the Children in Pakistan, said:
“In many parts of the flood-ravaged provinces of Pakistan, children’s lives are under threat from a lack of nutritious food, an absence of income for their caregivers and outbreaks of disease. Children are bearing the brunt of shock after shock.
“Malnutrition is entirely preventable. No child should suffer illness or lose their life simply because they did not have enough to eat.
“Children are always the most vulnerable in food crises and, without enough to eat and the right nutritional balance, they are at high risk of becoming acutely malnourished. Malnutrition impedes mental and physical development and increases the risk of contracting deadly diseases.
“Children in Pakistan urgently need more funding from international donors to be able to survive past and future climate shocks.”
Save the Children’s response to the 2025 floods in Pakistan reached about 75,000 people, including more than 30,000 children, with essential items and services for relief and early recovery. The response included provision of items such as food, tents, and hygiene kits, and services ranging from health and nutrition to temporary learning centres for out-of-school children and child-friendly spaces.
Save the Children has been working in Pakistan since 1979 and has reached at least 14 million beneficiaries, including children, through programmes in health and nutrition, education, child protection, livelihoods, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and through our humanitarian response programmes.
References:
[1] Pakistan: Acute Malnutrition Situation October 2025 – March 2026 and Projection for April – September 2026 in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. The IPC analysis assesses 45 rural districts in these three provinces. https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1161574/?iso3=PAK
