Reverse migration routes fueling invisible nutrition crisis, says Action Against Hunger

Cuts to US aid and shifting migration routes are driving invisible malnutrition crises among migrants, especially children and pregnant women, heading toward Latin America, says Action Against Hunger.

President Donald Trump has slashed 83% of US international funding and suspended its US Agency for International Development (USAID) operations, which is harming nutrition programs and the health and safety of migrants.

Action Against Hunger tells Nutrition Insight there is an 83% decrease in northbound migration through Colombia while thousands migrate south. Experts call this phenomenon “reverse irregular migratory flow.”

The nonprofit says it has operational bases throughout affected regions, including El Darien, a “dangerous jungle corridor between Colombia and Panama.”

Migration crisis

Benedetta Lettera, head of operations for Latin America at Action Against Hunger, explains that the closure of traditional migration routes makes them invisible and difficult to track. “They’re forced to take dangerous, inaccessible routes, often through remote areas with unknown risks.”

“These new pathways, while less visible, may be just as perilous or even more so than the traditional routes, which were already fraught with danger.”    

Lettera highlights that new routes, combined with limited resources, mean migrants face unknown dangers, with money spent on travel not being sufficient for other basic needs.

Pregnant women, kids, and families are stranded in isolated coastal communities like Miramar, where they sleep outside with little access to water, sanitary facilities, or healthcare, according to Action Against Hunger.

The closure of traditional migration routes makes them invisible and difficult to track.It adds that over 1,000 migrants in Panama do not have the resources to continue their return journey. 

Aid cuts threaten nutrition support

The nonprofit highlights that life-saving nutrition programs serving 1.5 million people globally have been cut, leaving 797,000 at immediate risk.

Lettera discusses how to prioritize which programs to scale back first as funding diminishes. “Normally, the donor decides when a program ends or is suspended. As an organization, Action Against Hunger responds by reallocating the available funds in line with budget cuts, with the primary goal of mitigating the impact of those cuts and the consequences of suspended programs.”

“We work to reorganize the programs that remain active to ensure we can continue addressing the basic needs of the most vulnerable communities,” she adds. “No single actor or donor can fill the gap left by USAID. Globally, USAID accounted for around 40% of total humanitarian funding. But in Latin America, the impact is even more severe.”

Lettera explains that USAID provided 68% of Colombia’s Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP) funding in 2024, which was already below the requested budget.

“In fact, 88% of the total RMRP funding in Latin America in 2024 was provided by USAID. So, if the minimum wasn’t being met even with USAID’s support, the situation has become even more critical without it,” she adds.

“We are currently focusing on communities with the highest levels of humanitarian need. While it has become more difficult to track migrant populations — this is a great challenge since many are now using alternative or even unknown migration routes and have become less visible — we continue to monitor the situation closely.”

In other updates, Somali children are facing a ticking clock of illness and death, Save the Children told us. The drop in foreign aid is reportedly forcing 121 nutrition centers to shut down by June.