This month marks a historic moment for children suffering from starvation.

The U.S. Congress has introduced a groundbreaking $300 million annual budget line item for Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), the largest direct commitment of its kind. This is what happens when evidence, advocacy, and bipartisan leadership come together around a solution we know works.

Our CEO, William Moore, reflects on what this moment means for the fight against child starvation and the critical work that lies ahead:

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Friends,

For a long time, we have known that the world possesses a "miracle" tool. We know that a simple packet of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) can bring a child back from the brink of starvation in a matter of weeks.

The science is settled. The challenge has always been matching the scale of the solution to the scale of the need.

This month, the gap between "what is needed" and "what is funded" just got much smaller.

The United States Congress has introduced a historic new $300 million annual budget line item for RUTF. It is the largest direct commitment of its kind, and it will save countless lives. This new funding should also provide the stable, multi-year financing that RUTF has always lacked, allowing for better market shaping, targeting, pre-positioning, and programming that can dramatically reduce the overall cost of treatment.

Moments like this don’t happen by accident. This historic win for starving children around the world is the result of years of dedicated education and advocacy, and brave championship from Congressional leaders.

It also shows the power of seeing starvation and treatment firsthand. In recent years, ECF has taken over 200 Members of Congress and senior Congressional staff on over 20 bipartisan learning trips to see RUTF in 15 countries. We remain in close touch with these Members of Congress and their offices, and many have become powerful champions of a world where children no longer regularly die of starvation. Today, we are grateful for their goodness and leadership.

Thank you to everyone who has championed this cause, crunched the data, or traveled the long road to a clinic to bear witness.

The work isn't done, but today, the path forward is brighter than it has ever been.

With gratitude,

Will