In northeast Nigeria, hospitals are overwhelmed with malnourished children, with millions suffering from food Insecurity amidst conflict, inflation, and climate shocks. The crisis has reached catastrophic levels, with 4.4 million children and 600,000 breastfeeding mothers struggling with acute malnourishment. In Borno state, the epi-center of the crisis, hospitals are running out of space to treat young children. Many are forced to lie on the floor in corridors due to a lack of bed space.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has reported a spike in admissions, with 1,250 severely malnourished children with complications admitted in April alone. The organization has raced to expand its facilities amid concerns that the situation could deteriorate further during the “lean season” in July and August. “The influx was so high,” said Ruth Simon, a nurse for MSF at the Therapeutic Feeding Centre in Maiduguri, the capital of the north eastern region. “Last month, there were so many casualties they had to lay down on the floor in the corridor between tents. There was simply no bed space.”
Other states have witnessed cases of kwashiorkor.
The crisis is not limited to Borno state, with other northern states such as Zamfara and Katsina also experiencing a surge in Malnutrition cases. MSF has reported treating children for kwashiorkor, a condition typically associated with famine, in Katsina state. The organization has warned that the situation could worsen if not addressed, with long-term consequences for the affected children, including stunting and cognitive damage. Experts have attributed the crisis to a combination of factors, including poverty, conflict, and climate shocks, which have led to food insecurity and displacement.
Nigeria’s northern states were once considered the country’s food basket, but have been badly hit by a complex combination of high Poverty rates, entrenched conflict, and severe climate shocks. In 2022, Nigeria experienced the worst flooding in at least a decade, displacing over 1.4 million people, ravaging swathes of homes and infrastructure, and damaging more than 330,000 hectares of land across the country. The floods affected 33 out of 36 states in Nigeria, destroying people’s livelihoods and assets.
President Tinubu’s reforms have spurred economic crisis in the country.
Also, the country is facing a severe economic crisis, with annual Inflation surging to a new 28-year high of nearly 34% in May. The cost crisis has been spurred by President Bola Tinubu’s reforms, chiefly the scrapping of petrol and Electricity subsidies, as well as devaluing the Naira currency twice within a year. This has triggered a rapidly declining Food Security situation, plunging almost 32 million Nigerians into “crisis” levels of hunger. The situation is particularly dire in the conflict-hit north, where civilians are increasingly being targeted by armed groups, disrupting farming, driving displacement, and making it hard to travel for medical care. Borno state, home to the terrorist group Boko Haram, has long been racked by violence.
MSF has warned that the situation could worsen if not addressed, with long-term consequences for the affected children. “We can’t keep repeating these catastrophic scenarios year after year,” said Dr. Simba Tirima, MSF’s Country Representative in Nigeria. “What will it take to make everyone take notice and act?” The organization has called for increased funding and support to address the malnutrition crisis, warning that “kids are dying” and that the situation will only worsen if not addressed. “We need curative and preventive approaches, right now,” Dr. Tirima said.
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Again, the crisis has also had a devastating impact on families, with many struggling to access medical care for their malnourished children. Hamsatu Adamu’s eight-month-old daughter, Aisha, was diagnosed with acute malnutrition at the MSF treatment center in Maiduguri. The little girl was also suffering from itchy rashes, eye infections, and had difficulty urinating, as her small body went without much-needed sustenance. Hamsatu’s daughter was diagnosed with malnutrition after her condition failed to improve despite visits to multiple hospitals and medication, highlighting the severity of the malnutrition crisis in Nigeria. Aisha is now being given therapeutic food, but the impacts of malnutrition will likely be lifelong. Without sufficient energy supply in the first 1,000 days of life, the growth of a child can be impaired, causing irreversible physical and cognitive damage known as “stunting”.