With growing concerns over the nutritional crisis ravaging northern Nigeria, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, has raised the alarm over the worsening situation, calling it a major public health emergency.
In a statement issued on Friday by the Field Communication Officer, Abdulkareem Yakubu, MSF revealed that in Katsina State, where it has operated since 2021, its teams are witnessing an ever-increasing number of malnourished children arriving at its therapeutic feeding centres with more severe conditions and rising mortality rates.
“In the context of drastic cuts in international funding, the need for prevention and treatment of malnutrition is enormous in northern Nigeria, and urgent mobilisation is required,” the organisation stated.
By the end of June 2025, nearly 70,000 malnourished children had already received medical care from MSF teams in Katsina State alone, including close to 10,000 hospitalised in serious condition. This marks an increase of about one-third compared to 2024, without accounting for new healthcare facilities opened by the organisation during the year.
Worryingly, MSF disclosed that between January and June 2025, the number of malnourished children with nutritional oedema, the most severe and deadly form of malnutrition, rose by a staggering 208 per cent compared to the same period last year.
“Unfortunately, 652 children have already died in our facilities since the beginning of 2025 due to a lack of timely access to care. A worrying sign of the growing severity of this major public health emergency is that adults, particularly women, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, are also affected,” MSF added.
In a recent screening conducted in July across the five MSF malnutrition centres in Katsina State, 750 mothers of patients were examined. The results showed that over half of the adult caregivers were acutely malnourished, with 13 per cent suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
Read also: Malaria: Kogi govt distributes free drugs, test kits
The crisis has been further worsened by multiple factors, including disease outbreaks intensified by low vaccine coverage, limited access to basic healthcare, and socioeconomic challenges aggravated by ongoing insecurity and violence across the region.
Earlier this week, the World Food Programme announced plans to suspend all emergency food and nutrition aid to 1.3 million people in Northeast Nigeria by the end of July due to “critical funding shortfalls.”
A food security survey carried out by humanitarian organisations in Kaita Local Government Area, Katsina State, before the start of the 2025 lean season, found that over 90 per cent of households had already reduced the number of meals they consumed daily.
In response, MSF, in collaboration with local authorities, has launched emergency prevention measures and nutritional supplement distribution targeting 66,000 children in Mashi Local Government Area.
“To cope with the massive influx of children expected by the end of the lean season in October, MSF has increased its support to local authorities in several states in northern Nigeria, where we provide care to the population,” the statement said.
“In Katsina State, for instance, we opened a new Ambulatory Therapeutic Feeding Centre in Mashi and an additional Inpatient Therapeutic Feeding Centre in Turai, to provide a total of 900 beds in two MSF-supported hospitals,” it added.
Ahmed Aldikhari, MSF’s country representative in Nigeria, described the current situation as one that has surpassed all previous forecasts.
“The year 2024 marked a turning point in northern Nigeria’s nutritional crisis, with an increase of 25 per cent from the previous year. But the true scale of the crisis exceeds all predictions. We are currently witnessing massive budget cuts, particularly from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, which are having a real impact on the treatment of malnourished children.
“At the same time, we observe ever-increasing needs, such as in Katsina State, where an increasing number of people cannot afford to buy food anymore, even though it is available in markets,” Aldikhari stated.
Emmanuel Berbain, the MSF nutrition referent, emphasised the most urgent need.
“The most urgent way to reduce the risk of immediate death from malnutrition is to ensure families have access to food. This can be done through large-scale distribution of food or nutritional supplements, as we are currently doing in the Mashi area, or through cash distributions when and where it is possible,” he said.
MSF further called for expansion of care capacity for malnourished children, including increasing bed spaces in health facilities and boosting funding and access to Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).
“These actions must be undertaken as a priority in areas where the needs – i.e. the number of malnourished children – are greatest. People over the age of five, who are also increasingly affected by malnutrition but are currently not covered by any assistance, should also be included in prevention programs,” the organisation added.
Meanwhile, on July 8, Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, publicly raised concern over the alarming scale of malnutrition, stating that it deprives nearly 40 per cent of children under five of their full physical and cognitive potential. He described the situation as a national emergency requiring urgent and collective action.
MSF reported that in 2024 alone, it treated over 300,000 malnourished children across seven northern states, marking a 25 per cent increase from the previous year.
“In the Northwest alone, where MSF tackles malnutrition in the states of Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, and Zamfara, we have already treated almost 100,000 children suffering from severe and moderate acute malnutrition in outpatient treatment centres in the first six months of 2025 and hospitalised around 25,000 malnourished children,” the statement concluded.
