Over 600 malnourished children die in six months in Nigeria, says MSF
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said northern Nigeria, which already is struggling with insurgency and banditry, is "currently facing an alarming malnutrition crisis."
In the first half of 2025, its teams treated nearly 70,000 children for malnutrition in Katsina state, nearly 10,000 of whom had to be hospitalized.
During the same period, cases of nutritional oedema — the most severe and deadly form of malnutrition among children — jumped by 208% from 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," the charity, which is known by its French initials, said in a statement released Friday.
Huge cuts in foreign aid sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to slash spending overseas have combined with spiking living costs and a surge in jihadist attacks to create a dire situation in northern Nigeria.
Ahmed Aldikhari, MSF's country representative in Nigeria, said the cuts from the United States — but also from Britain and European Union — were hampering treatment and care for malnourished children.
He said "the true scale of the crisis exceeds all predictions."
An MSF survey of 750 mothers showed more than half of them were "acutely malnourished, including 13% with severe acute malnutrition."
Katsina state nutrition officer Abdulhadi Abdulkadir acknowledged the severity of malnutrition in the state, but said the numbers released by the medical charity might be "too high compared to reality" and had not been validated by his administration.
"Yes, definitely there are deaths as a result of malnutrition," he said, promising to provide official figures next week.
The MSF figures cover the entire north of the country which includes more than a dozen states.
Abdulkadir said the northern parts of his state, bordering Niger and straddling the semi desert Sahel region, have the most severe malnutrition because food production is limited by the harsh climate.
Food production in the fertile south of the state is being hampered by criminal gangs called bandits who raid villages, making farming dangerous, he said.
"This has aggravated the issue of malnutrition," he said.
Criminal gangs have spread throughout the country, targeting rural areas with kidnappings for ransom.
Katsina state government provided 500 million naira ($330,000) towards nutrition programs and has doubled the amount this year, said Abdulkadir, the government official.
Across the country of roughly 230 million people, a record nearly 31 million face acute hunger, according to David Stevenson, chief of the U.N.'s food agency in Nigeria.
The World Food Program warned earlier this week it would be forced to suspend all emergency food and nutrition aid for 1.3 million people in northeast Nigeria at the end of July because of critical funding shortfalls.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Japan Times
'If the baby could speak, she would scream': the risky measures to feed small babies in Gaza
In a makeshift tent on a Gazan beach, 3-month-old Muntaha's grandmother grinds up chickpeas into the tiniest granules she can to form a paste to feed the infant, knowing it will cause her to cry in pain, in a desperate race to keep the baby from starving. "If the baby could speak, she would scream at us, asking what we are putting into her stomach," her aunt, Abir Hamouda said. Muntaha grimaced and squirmed as her grandmother fed her the paste with a syringe. Muntaha's family is one of many in Gaza facing dire choices to try to feed babies, especially those below the age of six months who cannot process solid food. Infant formula is scarce after a plummet in aid access to Gaza. Many women cannot breastfeed due to malnourishment, while other babies are separated from their mothers due to displacement, injury or, in Muntaha's case, death. Her family says the baby's mother was hit by a bullet while pregnant, gave birth prematurely while unconscious in intensive care, and died a few weeks later. The director of the Shifa Hospital described such a case in a Facebook post on April 27, four days after Muntaha was born. Hamouda holds her granddaughter, Muntaha, while feeding her with a homemade herbal mixture in Gaza City on Tuesday. | REUTERS "I am terrified about the fate of the baby," said her grandmother, Nemah Hamouda. "We named her after her mother ... hoping she can survive and live long, but we are so afraid, we hear children and adults die every day of hunger." Muntaha now weighs about 3.5 kilograms, her family said, barely more than half of what a full-term baby her age would normally weigh. She suffers stomach problems like vomiting and diarrhea after feeding. Health officials, aid workers and Gazan families said many families are feeding infants herbs and tea boiled in water, or grinding up bread or sesame. Humanitarian agencies also reported cases of parents boiling leaves in water, eating animal feed and grinding sand into flour. Feeding children solids too early can disrupt their nutrition, cause stomach problems, and risk choking, pediatric health experts say. "It's a desperate move to compensate for the lack of food," said UNICEF spokesperson Salim Oweis. "When mothers can't breastfeed or provide proper infant formula they resort to grinding chickpeas, bread, rice, anything that they can get their hands on to feed their children ... it is risking their health because these supplies are not made for infants to feed on." Gaza's spiraling humanitarian crisis prompted the main world hunger monitoring body on Tuesday to say a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death. Images of emaciated Palestinian children have shocked the world. Hamouda holds a spoon filled with dried herbs as she prepares a homemade mixture to feed her granddaughter in Gaza City on Tuesday. | REUTERS Gazan health authorities have reported more and more people dying from hunger-related causes. The total so far stands at 154, among them 89 children, most of whom died in the last few weeks. With the international furor over Gaza's ordeal growing, Israel announced steps over the weekend to ease aid access. But the U.N. World Food Program said on Tuesday it was still not getting the permissions it needed to deliver enough aid. Israel and the U.S. accuse militant group Hamas of stealing aid — which the militants deny — and the U.N. of failing to prevent it. The U.N. says it has not seen evidence of Hamas diverting much aid. Hamas accuses Israel of causing starvation and using aid as a weapon, which the Israeli government denies. Humanitarian agencies say there is almost no infant formula left in Gaza. The cans available in the market cost over $100 — impossible to afford for families like Muntaha's, whose father has been jobless since the war closed his falafel business and displaced the family from their home. In the pediatric ward of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, the infant formula supply is mostly depleted. One mother showed how she poured thick tahini sesame paste into a bottle and mixed it with water. Hamouda prepares food for her grandchildren using limited ingredients in Gaza City on Tuesday. | REUTERS "I am using this instead of milk, to compensate her for milk, but she won't drink it," said Azhar Imad, 31, the mother of 4-month-old Joury. "I also make her fenugreek, anise, caraway, any kind of herbs (mixed with water)," she said, panicked as she described how instead of nourishing her child, these attempts were making her sick. Medical staff at the hospital spoke of helplessness, watching on as children's health deteriorated with no way to safely feed them. "Now, children are being fed either water or ground hard legumes, and this is harmful for children in Gaza," said doctor Khalil Daqran. "If the hunger continues ... within three or four days, if the child doesn't get access to milk immediately, then they will die," he said.
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Japan Times
On Gaza malnutrition ward, a child's arm is as wide as mother's thumb
On the pink walls of Nasser hospital's child malnutrition ward, cartoon drawings show children running, smiling, and playing with flowers and balloons. Beneath the pictures, a handful of Gazan mothers watch over their babies who lie still and largely silent, mostly too exhausted by severe hunger to cry. The quiet is common in places treating the most acutely malnourished, doctors said, a sign of bodies shutting down. "She is always lethargic, lying down, like this ... you do not find her responsive," said Zeina Radwan, mother of 10-month-old Maria Suhaib Radwan. She has not been able to find milk or enough food for her baby, and cannot breastfeed as she herself is underfed, surviving on one meal a day. "My children and I cannot live without nutrition." Over the last week, journalists spent five days in Nasser Medical Complex, one of only four centers left in Gaza able to treat the most dangerously hungry children. While they was there, 53 cases of acutely malnourished children were admitted, according to the head of the ward. Gaza's food stocks have been running out since Israel, at war with Palestinian militant group Hamas since October 2023, cut off all supplies to the territory in March. That blockade was lifted in May but with restrictions that Israel says are needed to prevent aid being diverted to militant groups. "She is always lethargic, lying down, like this ... you do not find her responsive," said Zeina Radwan, mother of 10-month-old Maria Suhaib Radwan. | REUTERS In response to a request for comment, COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said Israel does not restrict aid trucks entering Gaza, but that international organizations face challenges collecting aid inside Gaza. The Israeli military, it said, regularly facilitates the provision of medical services through aid organizations and the international community, with whom it works to meet the needs of Gaza's hospitals. As food stocks ran out, the situation escalated in June and July, with the World Health Organization warning of mass starvation and images of emaciated children shocking the world. The Gaza Health Ministry says 154 people, including 89 children, have died of malnutrition, most in recent weeks. A global hunger monitor said on Tuesday that a famine scenario is unfolding. Israel says it has no aim to starve Gaza. This week it announced steps to allow more aid in, including pausing fighting in some locations, air dropping food and offering more secure routes. The United Nations said the scale of what is needed is vast in order to stave off famine and avert a health crisis. "We need milk for babies. We need medical supplies. We need some food, special food for nutritional department," said Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, head of the pediatric and maternity department in Nasser Medical Complex. "We need everything for the hospitals." Palestinian woman Najla Abu Aya feeds her malnourished 5-month-old daughter, Rama, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip on July 24. | REUTERS Israeli officials say many of those who died while malnourished in Gaza were suffering from preexisting illnesses. Famine experts say this is typical in the early stages of a hunger crisis. "Children with underlying conditions are more vulnerable. They get affected earlier," said Marko Kerac, clinical associate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who helped draw up the WHO's treatment guidelines for severe acute malnutrition. Farra said his hospital was now dealing with malnourished children with no previous health problems, like baby Wateen Abu Amounah, born healthy nearly three months ago and now weighing 100 grams less than she weighed at birth. "During the past three months she did not gain one gram. On the contrary the child's weight decreased," the doctor said. "There is total loss of muscles. It's only skin on top of bones, which is an indication that the child has entered a severe malnutrition phase," said Farra. "Even the face of the child: she has lost fat tissues from her cheeks." The baby's mother, Yasmin Abu Sultan, gestures at the child's limbs, her arms about as wide as her mother's thumb. "Can you see? These are her legs. ... Look at her arms," she said. Israa Abu Haleeb and Ahmed Abu Haleeb mourn the death of their malnourished daughter Zainab Abu Haleeb in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on July 26. | REUTERS The youngest babies in particular need special therapeutic formulas made with clean water, and supplies are running low, Farra and the WHO said. "All the key supplies for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition, including medical complications, are really running out," said Marina Adrianopoli, WHO nutrition lead for the Gaza response. "It's really a critical situation." The treatment centers are also operating beyond capacity, she said. In the first two weeks of July, more than 5,000 children under the age of 5 received outpatient treatment for malnutrition, with 18% suffering from the severest form. That was a surge from 6,500 in the whole of June, already the highest of the war and almost certainly an underestimate, said the WHO. Baby Wateen's mother said she tried to get the girl admitted last month, but the center was full. After 10 days with no milk available and barely a meal a day for the rest of the family, she returned last week because her daughter's condition was deteriorating. Like several of the infants at Nasser, Wateen also has a recurring fever and diarrhea, illnesses that malnourished children are more vulnerable to and which make their condition more dangerous. "If she stays like this, I'm going to lose her," her mother said. Wateen remains in hospital getting treatment, where her mother encourages her to take tiny sips from a bottle of formula milk. A side-effect of severe malnutrition is, counterintuitively, loss of appetite, doctors said. Yasmin herself lives on the one meal a day provided by the hospital. Some of the other babies, like 10-month-old Maria, were discharged over the weekend after gaining weight, and given formula milk to take home with them. But others, like 5-month-old Zainab Abu Haleeb, did not make it. Vulnerable to infection because of her severely malnourished state, she died on Saturday of sepsis. Her parents carried her tiny body out of the hospital for burial, wrapped in a white shroud.
Japan Times
6 days ago
- Japan Times
Over 600 malnourished children die in six months in Nigeria, says MSF
More than 600 malnourished children have died in northern Nigeria in six months after failing to receive proper care as foreign aid dries up, a medical charity has said. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said northern Nigeria, which already is struggling with insurgency and banditry, is "currently facing an alarming malnutrition crisis." In the first half of 2025, its teams treated nearly 70,000 children for malnutrition in Katsina state, nearly 10,000 of whom had to be hospitalized. During the same period, cases of nutritional oedema — the most severe and deadly form of malnutrition among children — jumped by 208% from 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," the charity, which is known by its French initials, said in a statement released Friday. Huge cuts in foreign aid sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to slash spending overseas have combined with spiking living costs and a surge in jihadist attacks to create a dire situation in northern Nigeria. Ahmed Aldikhari, MSF's country representative in Nigeria, said the cuts from the United States — but also from Britain and European Union — were hampering treatment and care for malnourished children. He said "the true scale of the crisis exceeds all predictions." An MSF survey of 750 mothers showed more than half of them were "acutely malnourished, including 13% with severe acute malnutrition." Katsina state nutrition officer Abdulhadi Abdulkadir acknowledged the severity of malnutrition in the state, but said the numbers released by the medical charity might be "too high compared to reality" and had not been validated by his administration. "Yes, definitely there are deaths as a result of malnutrition," he said, promising to provide official figures next week. The MSF figures cover the entire north of the country which includes more than a dozen states. Abdulkadir said the northern parts of his state, bordering Niger and straddling the semi desert Sahel region, have the most severe malnutrition because food production is limited by the harsh climate. Food production in the fertile south of the state is being hampered by criminal gangs called bandits who raid villages, making farming dangerous, he said. "This has aggravated the issue of malnutrition," he said. Criminal gangs have spread throughout the country, targeting rural areas with kidnappings for ransom. Katsina state government provided 500 million naira ($330,000) towards nutrition programs and has doubled the amount this year, said Abdulkadir, the government official. Across the country of roughly 230 million people, a record nearly 31 million face acute hunger, according to David Stevenson, chief of the U.N.'s food agency in Nigeria. The World Food Program warned earlier this week it would be forced to suspend all emergency food and nutrition aid for 1.3 million people in northeast Nigeria at the end of July because of critical funding shortfalls.
