Friday, July 25, 2025 - Over 650 children have di£d from severe acute malnutrition in Katsina State this year, according to international charity organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
The organisation, which has been operating in Katsina since
2021, said it recorded an alarming rise in the number of malnourished children
brought to its treatment centres in increasingly critical condition.
Between January and June 2025, MSF said it treated nearly
70,000 malnourished children in the state, including almost 10,000 who required
hospitalisation.
“This year alone, 652 children have already died in our
facilities because they couldn’t get timely access to care,” said Ahmed
Aldikhari, MSF’s country representative in Nigeria, in a press release issued
on Friday, July 25.
The organisation said the crisis has been worsened by deep
cuts to international aid, with major donors, including the United States, the
United Kingdom, and the European Union, reducing funding.
Earlier this week, the World Food Programme (WFP)
announced it would suspend emergency food and nutrition aid to 1.3 million
people in Northeast Nigeria from the end of July, citing “critical funding
shortfalls.”
The organisation said the number of children suffering from
nutritional oedema — the most severe and life-threatening form of malnutrition
in Katsina State — has surged by more than 200 per cent compared with the same
period last year.
MSF noted that the impact of food insecurity is not limited
to children. A screening conducted this month in MSF-run malnutrition centres
found that more than half of 750 mothers accompanying young patients were
themselves acutely malnourished, with 13 per cent classified as severely
malnourished.
“The year 2024 marked a turning point in northern Nigeria’s
nutritional crisis, but the true scale of the crisis this year exceeds all
predictions,” Mr Aldikhari said. “An increasing number of people can no longer
afford to buy food, even though food is available in the markets.”
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