MSF Says Malnutrition Records Now Overwhelming North-east

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) otherwise called Doctors Without Borders has raised the alarm that in-patient facilities in northern Nigeria have recorded an extraordinary increase in admissions of severely malnourished children.

It said  the affected persons were with life-threatening complications, exceeding last year’s figures by over 100 per cent in some locations.

The organisation in a statement yesterday said the latest figure was the result of admission records in the last few weeks at facilities in the area, insisting that for MSF teams, it was an alarming indication of a premature peak of the lean season and the increase in acute malnutrition that accompanies it, typically anticipated in July.

Speaking on the situation, the MSF’s Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Simba Tirima said: “We are resorting to treating patients on mattresses on the floor because our facilities are full.

“Children are dying. If immediate action is not taken, more lives hang in the balance. Everyone needs to step in to save lives and allow the children of northern Nigeria to grow free from malnutrition and its disastrous long-term, if not fatal, consequences.

“Humanitarian assistance must be urgently scaled up. MSF calls upon the Nigerian authorities, international organisations and donors to take immediate action to diagnose and treat malnourished children to prevent associated complications and deaths, but also to engage in sustained, long-term initiatives to mitigate the underlying causes of this urgent problem.

“We’ve been warning about the worsening malnutrition crisis for the last two years. 2022 and 2023 were already critical, but an even grimmer picture is unfolding in 2024. We can’t keep repeating these catastrophic scenarios year after year. What will it take to make everyone take notice and act?” Tirima added.

According to the statement, in April 2024, MSF’s medical team in Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria admitted 1,250 severely malnourished children with complications to the inpatient therapeutic feeding centre, doubling the figure for April 2023.

Forced to urgently scale up capacity, by the end of May the centre accommodated 350 patients, far surpassing the 200 beds initially designated for the peak malnutrition season in July and August.

Also in the north-east, the MSF-operated facility in Bauchi state’s Karfin Madaki hospital recorded a significant 188 per cent increase in admissions of severely malnourished children during the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

The statement added that in the north-western part of the region, in Zamfara state, the in-patient centres in Shinkafi and Zurmi had received up to 30 per cent more monthly admissions in April compared to March.

“Talata Mafara’s facility saw about 20 per cent increase in the same period. Similarly, MSF inpatient facilities in major cities like Kano and Sokoto are also reporting alarming surges, by 75 and 100 per cent respectively. The therapeutic feeding centre in Kebbi state also documented a rise of more than 20 per cent in inpatient admissions from March to April,” it said.

The statement said that despite the alarming situation, the overall humanitarian response remains inadequate.

“ Other non-profit organisations active in the north are also overwhelmed. The United Nations and Nigerian authorities issued an urgent appeal in May for $306.4 million to address the pressing nutritional needs in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states.

“ Yet this will be insufficient, ignoring as it does other parts of northern Nigeria where needs also outweigh the current capacity of the organisations to respond sufficiently,” the organisation stated.

It added that the catastrophic nutritional situation seen in recent years in northern Nigeria calls for a bigger response.

Tirima said: “We are alarmed by the reduction in aid at these critical times. Reducing nutritional support to only severely malnourished children is akin to waiting for a child to become gravely ill before providing care.

“We urge donors and authorities to increase support urgently for both curative and preventive approaches, ensuring that all malnourished children receive the care they desperately need.”