Northern Nigeria is currently facing a deepening malnutrition crisis. In Katsina State alone, where Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been active since 2021, there has been a surge in the number of malnourished children arriving at therapeutic feeding centers. Many are presenting in increasingly severe conditions, with higher mortality rates.
In response, MSF, in collaboration with local authorities, has launched an emergency prevention program, distributing nutritional supplements to 66,000 children in Mashi Local Government Area. However, with significant cuts in international funding, the scale of need for both prevention and treatment of malnutrition in northern Nigeria is overwhelming—and growing by the day.
By the end of June 2025, nearly 70,000 malnourished children had received medical care in Katsina State from MSF teams, including almost 10,000 children who were hospitalized in serious condition. Even without factoring in newly opened healthcare facilities in the state, this marks a 33% increase from the previous year.
Worryingly, the number of malnourished children with nutritional oedema—the most severe and deadly form of malnutrition—rose by 208% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. Tragically, 652 children have died in MSF-supported facilities since the start of 2025 due to delayed access to care.
This crisis is now extending beyond children. A July screening of 750 mothers of pediatric patients across MSF’s five malnutrition centers in Katsina revealed that over half of the caregivers were themselves acutely malnourished, including 13% suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Pregnant and breastfeeding women are especially vulnerable.
To help manage the expected influx of patients before the lean season ends in October, MSF has expanded its support in several northern states. In Katsina, a new Ambulatory Therapeutic Feeding Center (ATFC) was opened in Mashi, alongside an additional Inpatient Therapeutic Feeding Center (ITFC) in Turai—bringing the total bed capacity in MSF-supported hospitals to 900.
“The year 2024 marked a turning point in northern Nigeria’s nutritional crisis, with a 25 percent increase over the previous year,” said Ahmed Aldikhari, MSF’s country representative in Nigeria. “But the true scale of the crisis now far exceeds any of our predictions. Major budget cuts from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union are already impacting treatment access for malnourished children.”
Earlier this week, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned it would be forced to suspend all emergency food and nutrition assistance for 1.3 million people in Northeast Nigeria by the end of July, citing “critical funding shortfalls.”
“At the same time,” Aldikhari added, “needs are rising exponentially—especially in Katsina, where more and more families can no longer afford food, even when it’s available in markets.”
A recent food security survey conducted in Kaita Local Government Area, Katsina State, found that over 90% of households had reduced their daily meal intake before the lean season even began in early 2025.
The worsening crisis is being further fueled by disease outbreaks due to low vaccine coverage, poor access to basic health services, socioeconomic instability, and pervasive insecurity and violence across the north.
“The most urgent way to prevent malnutrition-related deaths is to ensure families can access food,” said Emmanuel Berbain, MSF’s nutrition referent. “This can be achieved through large-scale food or supplement distributions, like what we’re doing in Mashi, or cash transfers when appropriate.”
Berbain emphasized the need to expand the capacity to treat malnourished children by increasing hospital beds and improving access to ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF). These interventions, he noted, must target areas with the highest number of malnourished children.
He also called for prevention programs to include individuals over the age of five, who are increasingly affected by malnutrition but are not currently covered by most interventions.
On July 8, Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima publicly raised alarm over the crisis, stating that malnutrition robs nearly 40% of Nigerian children under five of their full physical and cognitive potential. He described the situation as a national emergency requiring urgent and coordinated action.
In 2024, MSF treated over 300,000 malnourished children across seven northern Nigerian states—a 25% increase from 2023. In the Northwest alone, including Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, and Zamfara states, MSF treated nearly 100,000 children for moderate and severe acute malnutrition in the first half of 2025, with 25,000 requiring hospitalization.
