Malnutrition in Nigeria

An unprecedented malnutrition crisis

More than 50 years after outrage over war and famine in Nigeria sparked the creation of MSF, another malnutrition crisis is gripping the country’s north. But it’s a crisis largely unnoticed by the global community.

Since 2021, our teams have been seeing an ever-increasing number of malnourished children in our therapeutic feeding centres, with increasingly severe conditions. 

With more children at higher risk of malnutrition than ever, MSF is not only concerned about the immediate death of children but also the long-term health consequences of survivors; long after initial treatment. Malnutrition can affect cognitive development and a lowered performance in education. It weakens a child’s immunity and increases the risk of chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension later in life. It can also significantly impact a child’s motor development. If these issues aren’t addressed early enough, they can lead to a lifetime of irreversible physical and cognitive damage. 

The current situation

Northern Nigeria continues to face a surge in malnutrition, with over 300,000 children treated in MSF-supported facilities in 2024 alone—a 25 per cent increase from the previous year. While the physical consequences of malnutrition are well known, the psychological wounds—affecting both children and their caregivers—are often overlooked.

Children suffering from malnutrition may become withdrawn, irritable, and miss key developmental milestones. Caregivers, often mothers, experience immense stress, guilt, and emotional strain, which can impact their ability to provide care. The emotional journey for families, from anxiety at triage to hope at discharge, is profound and shapes recovery.

MSF is responding with a holistic approach: integrating mental health support into nutrition care, providing psycho-stimulation for children, psycho-education and support groups for caregivers, and engaging fathers to foster family resilience. All staff are trained in psychological first aid and compassionate communication to ensure every child and caregiver receives comprehensive support. 

How MSF is responding

MSF is currently managing 11 inpatient therapeutic feeding centres and about 30 outpatient therapeutic feeding centres in seven states across the northeast and the northwest. 

To mitigate both short-term and long-term impacts, MSF is taking a multi-pronged approach to tackling malnutrition. Our teams are providing urgent care to malnourished patients, promote health and nutrition activities in the community and conduct regular screenings, while also providing comprehensive services in some areas to treat long-term consequences of malnutrition to ensure that discharged patients have a higher chance of thriving.

In Bauchi and Zamfara states, for example, mental health is integrated into provision of malnutrition care, supporting children but also their caregivers, who often carry large burdens of emotional, logistical and financial stress. In Kano and Katsina states, physiotherapists are integrating rehabilitation into the malnutrition care protocol by using play and sensorimotor stimulation as therapeutic tools. 

By the end of June 2025, nearly 70,000 malnourished children had already received medical care from our teams in Katsina State, including nearly 10,000 who were hospitalised in serious condition. Without taking into account the new healthcare facilities opened by MSF during the year in the state, this represents an increase of approximately one-third compared to last year. In addition, between January and June 2025, the number of malnourished children with nutritional oedema, the most severe and deadly form of malnutrition, rose by 208 percent compared with the same period in 2024.

Unfortunately, 652 children have already died in our facilities since the beginning of 2025 due to a lack of timely access to care. A worrying sign of the growing severity of this major public health emergency, is that adults—particularly women, including pregnant and breastfeeding women—are also affected. A screening carried out in July in all five MSF malnutrition centers in Katsina State on 750 mothers of patients revealed that more than half of adult caregivers were acutely malnourished, including 13 percent with severe acute malnutrition.