Severe Malnutrition in Northern Nigeria Has Risen by 51%, MSF Raises the Alarm

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The International President of the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, Dr. Christos Christou, has raised the alarm over what he described as a huge increase in the number of malnourished children in northern Nigeria.

Christou, who said this at the weekend at a press briefing in Abuja after he visited Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, noted that between January and August this year, there was a 51 per cent increase in admission of children with severe malnutrition compared to the same period last year.

He said people in northern Nigeria had been through a lot with overwhelming levels of malnutrition, frequent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, and lack of medical facilities and medical personnel, which were compounded by continuous insecurity.

He said: “During my visit to Maiduguri, I visited the hospitals and clinics where MSF works. We support the local healthcare system in tackling malaria and other diseases, as well as in providing access to maternity services. Recently, we had to launch a cholera treatment centre, after a cholera outbreak was officially declared. All this has happened in the background of a catastrophic malnutrition crisis.

“One of my colleagues, a Nigerian doctor who has been working with MSF for more than eight years, told me that this year is very different. Every year, he said, during this season, we see terrible numbers of malnourished children coming to the hospital in a severe condition. But this year, at a time when the peak is supposed to be over, the number of patients admitted to the hospital is not going down.

“Worse, the condition in which they arrive is even more severe than usual. Very often people don’t have access even to basic medical care where they live and do not have enough money or available transport. As a result, they reach us too late.”
He stated that many organisations, which were providing support in Maiduguri and other parts of northern Nigeria, had to reduce their budgets or even stop their operations.

“For the past few years, MSF has seen a significant increase in the number of admissions for malnutrition. “The numbers in 2022 and 2023 were already critically high. But between January to August this year, we have seen a 51 per cent increase in admissions of children with severe malnutrition, compared to the same period last year. Over the first eight months of this year, we have treated 52,725 children with severe malnutrition, a life-threatening condition, across the whole of northern Nigeria.

“On top of this, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles are recurrent in Nigeria and one of the leading causes of death among children. Between January – August this year alone, we had already treated over 12,500 cases of measles. That’s nearly double the same period last year. Outbreaks of infectious diseases significantly increase mortality risks for children under the age of five.

“Unvaccinated children in this age group are particularly vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases, diseases which elevate the risk of acute malnutrition. That’s nearly double the same period last year. Outbreaks of infectious diseases significantly increase mortality risks for children under the age of five.

“Unvaccinated children in this age group are particularly vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases, diseases which elevate the risk of acute malnutrition,” he added.

Corroborating, the Head of Mission, MSF, Ahmad Bilal, stated that in states where MSF was operational, there had been 200,000 admissions in ambulatory therapeutic feeding centres and 52,000 admissions from January to August compared to that of last year.

“Last year, the ATFCs admission increased by 50 per cent, while the inpatient therapeutic feeding centres’ admission increased by 60 per cent. There was a time when we were putting two patients in one bed and this is a concern when we see that increase by over 50 per cent,” Bilal added.