Since April 2024, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)-supported healthcare facilities in North-West and North-East Nigeria are recording unprecedented surges in admissions for acute malnutrition among children.
Like all other states in the northern part of Nigeria, Kebbi state experienced a colossal spike in malnutrition cases this year. In May, close to 1,000 children were admitted for severe acute malnutrition in the inpatient therapeutic feeding centre (ITFC) set up by MSF in the Maiyama Hospital – an 80 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. The trend continued in June and July, with more than 260 patients admitted in the second week of July. The 210-bed facility is so overwhelmed that patients regularly must share beds.
In addition to this intensive treatment facility, more than 11,000 children were enrolled mid-July in the outpatient nutrition treatment programme supported by MSF in five smaller health centres in Kebbi state.
“The level of this crisis calls for big efforts in prevention activities,” says Maryam Muhammad, head of the MSF health promotion team in Kebbi. “That is why we also run outreach activities at community-level, to help parents in avoiding the worst for their children.”