Northern Nigerian states see significant rise in child malnutrition cases, MSF reports
M茅decins Sans Fronti猫res Doctors Without Borders reported that 185,502 more children were treated for acute malnutrition across seven northern Nigerian states in 2025 compared to the previous two years. The affected states include Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Bauchi, Borno, and Sokoto. MSF treated 425,634 children for acute malnutrition in northern Nigeria in 2025, a 41.8 percent increase from 2024, when 300,165 children were treated. This 2024 figure represented a 25 percent increase over 2023, which saw approximately 240,132 cases. The organization attributes this surge to worsening insecurity and displacement, heightened food insecurity, disease outbreaks, reductions in humanitarian funding, and the broader economic crisis. The crisis continued into 2026, with an estimated 34.7 million people facing crisis levels of food insecurity and over 5.4 million children nationwide suffering from acute malnutrition. MSF operates nutrition projects across these seven states, including 12 Inpatient Therapeutic Feeding Centres and over 30 Ambulatory Therapeutic Feeding Centres. Between January and June 2025, MSF admitted 32,940 severely malnourished children into inpatient centers and 136,255 into outpatient therapeutic feeding programs. The report, titled 'Nigeria: Increased malnutrition crisis for children and the mental health strain for caregivers,' also highlights the psychological burden on children and their caregivers, predominantly mothers. MSF integrates mental health and p
