What is Therapeutic Milk? | Action Against Hunger

Severe acute malnutrition is one of the deadliest conditions affecting children under five, requiring urgent medical care—not just food. In its most advanced stages, a child’s body is too weak to digest regular meals, making standard feeding dangerous. Therapeutic milk is designed for this exact moment. Acting as both treatment and nutrition, it stabilizes vital functions and creates the foundation for recovery.

Therapeutic Milk: A Lifesaving Treatment for Child Malnutrition

Therapeutic milk is a scientifically formulated medical food designed to stabilize weight gain and save lives. There are two types of therapeutic milk, each playing a distinct and crucial role in a child’s journey to recovery:

• F-75, known as the “starter formula,” is used at the beginning of treatment. It’s low in protein and sodium and provides just enough energy for the body to begin healing without overwhelming it. F-75 is often the only form of nutrition a child’s body can tolerate when they arrive for treatment.
• F-100 is the second therapeutic milk and is administered once the child is stabilized. It’s higher in calories and protein and supports rapid weight gain and catch-up growth. It’s the bridge to full recovery.

This treatment is administered by trained medical staff in stabilization centers, where severely malnourished children under the age of five receive round-the-clock care until stabilized.

How Effective is Therapeutic Milk in Treating Malnutrition?

Therapeutic milk supports stabilization and survival in over 90% of children admitted to Action Against Hunger’s stabilization centers with complicated severe acute malnutrition (SAM). It is a highly calibrated, scientifically designed product endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for the clinical management of severe acute malnutrition in infants and young children. No other intervention can replace therapeutic milk during the critical early phase of SAM treatment.

Globally, Action Against Hunger is the most specialized organization in the treatment of SAM in children under the age of five, and therapeutic milk is an essential part of our work. With this proven, effective treatment, our highly trained medical staff were able to treat over 574,000 children with severe acute malnutrition in 2024 alone.

Unfortunately, the lifeline that these milks provide is fraying. Global funding cuts have pushed therapeutic milk supply chains to the brink. In Somalia and Uganda, temporary stock-outs have already occurred. Without access to F-75 and F-100, health workers are forced to improvise mixtures—an unsafe and ineffective substitute for the highly specific therapeutic milk formulation.

What is the Cost of Therapeutic Milk?

In 2024, a single tin of therapeutic milk cost $3.45 for F-75 and $3.89 for F-100. A child typically requires one tin of F-75 and two to four tins of F-100 during treatment.

The total cost of treating a child with therapeutic milk varies by region and individual case. Factors such as production and shipping expenses, availability of local resources, staffing and program costs, and the severity of the child’s condition all influence the final cost. As an example, the typical cost of therapeutic milk treatment in Somalia is about $39.

A Typical Therapeutic Milk Treatment Plan

Step 1: Identification

Severe acute malnutrition is often detected in the community. Caregivers or health workers identify warning signs such as visible wasting, swollen feet, or a red-zone MUAC measurement.

Step 2: Medical Assessment

Children are assessed for complications. Those without complications may begin treatment at home. Children with severe illness or complications that require inpatient care are referred immediately to a stabilization center.

Step 3: Stabilization (F-75)

At the stabilization center, children receive F-75 therapeutic milk. This low-energy formula allows fragile bodies to regain metabolic stability while medical teams treat infections and monitor vital signs. This phase typically lasts up to 5 days.

Step 4 (Children Under 6 Months): Infant Care

Infants under six months are treated through supported re-establishment of exclusive breastfeeding.  Breastfeeding is one of the safest ways to feed a child and promote their survival; both the World Health Organization and UNICEF recommend that children be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life. Once feeding is effective and the infant is clinically stable, they are discharged to outpatient management.

Step 4 (Children 6-59 months): Recovery with F-100 or RUTF

Once stabilized, children transition to either F-100 therapeutic milk or Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) depending on their nutritional status, both supporting rapid weight gain and rebuilding strength. Then, they can be discharged to outpatient management.

Step 5: Outpatient Follow-Up

After about 7-10 days of inpatient care, children continue treatment through Outpatient Therapeutic Care (OTP), which includes weekly check-ups and administration of RUTF, until fully cured.  In some cases, Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programs (TSFP) extend a child’s care for another one to two months, with additional treatment and less frequent check-ups.

From identification to recovery, treatment usually spans three to four months, depending on severity.

The Importance of Prevention

The most effective way to treat malnutrition is to prevent it from ever occurring. Therapeutic milk is remarkably effective in preventing deaths and stabilizing children as they go on to further treatment, but malnutrition still has lifelong consequences for those who have been affected. Children can face permanently weakened immune systems, susceptibility to relapse, developmental challenges, and other health complications.

Action Against Hunger aims to provide holistic treatment plans at stabilization centers that integrate maternal and child health care. Pregnant women or caretakers who arrive with malnourished children often receive anemia screenings, immunization checks, and access to antenatal care—all under one roof. In many of our stabilization sites, baby-safe spaces are included and dedicated counselors work with mothers on:

• Understanding the causes and consequences of malnutrition
• Improving breastfeeding practices and addressing maternal mental health
• Learning how to treat water safely, using filters and simple purification methods, to prevent diseases like diarrhea—a major driver of malnutrition

This integrated care helps promote long-term recovery and the prevention of future malnutrition cases by making information and resources available to families. By pairing lifesaving treatment with prevention-focused care, Action Against Hunger works not only to help children survive today, but to ensure they grow, thrive, and never need therapeutic milk again.