Download logoIn 2025, MSF-run and supported nutrition centres in northern Nigeria recorded exceptionally high numbers of children admitted for malnutrition. In Katsina state, where MSF runs its largest nutrition programme, the number of children treated between January and August 2026 was slightly lower than during the same period in 2025. However, the figure remains extremely high, and the nutritional crisis across the region continues to be deeply concerning. Only sustained, large-scale financial mobilisation by Nigeria’s federal and state authorities, international donors and humanitarian partners can help curb this chronic crisis, which contributes to the deaths of thousands of children every year.Between January and August 2026, MSF teams treated more than 87,000 children for acute malnutrition in its four outpatient therapeutic feeding centres in Katsina State. “This is lower than in 2025, when we treated more than 95,000 children over the same period, but the figure remains extremely high and is even above what we saw two years ago,” explains Dr Raphael Kananga, MSF medical coordinator in Nigeria.Nearly 15,500 children also required hospitalisation for severe or complicated conditions due to malnutrition. While this is slightly below the 16,500 recorded over a similar period in 2025, the figure remains critically high.A notable aspect of malnutrition in this region of Nigeria is the high number of children with kwashiorkor, a severe form of malnutrition whose causes remain poorly understood. The condition causes skin lesions and swelling of the body. MSF opened a specialised unit within its inpatient therapeutic feeding centre in Katsina to provide care for these children.“I didn’t think it was malnutrition. This kind of condition is difficult to recognise,” says Badiyya Shafi’u, whose child was treated by MSF for kwashiorkor in the city of Katsina. “Before, he could not even sit up on his own. If someone helped him sit, he would immediately fall back down. But now I can see an improvement because he is able to sit up by himself. When we help him stand, he can remain standing, and he is even trying to walk properly again.”Several factors drive the nutritional crisis that has persisted in northern Nigeria for many years: poverty, worsened by consecutive years of inflation; conflict and insecurity linked to armed banditry and jihadist groups, leading in particular to population displacement and disruptions to agricultural production; disease outbreaks; and extreme weather events such as droughts and floods.In Katsina state, improved security and better harvests in 2025 helped alleviate the nutrition crisis this year. “Many people displaced from Jibia or Batsari local governmental areas because of insecurity had been living in areas such as Katsina, Mashi and Mani. Since last year, however, they have been able to return home and resume farming,” says Jean-Clément Ishimwe, MSF partnership coordinator. “As a result, they can now access food more easily, and we are seeing fewer of them in our treatment centres.” MSF repeatedly raised the alarm in 2025 about the extremely serious nutritional situation our teams were witnessing in MSF-run or -supported health facilities across the region, helping draw greater attention to the crisis. In 2026, more humanitarian organisations began working in the area, while the Katsina state government opened additional outpatient and inpatient treatment centres for several months. MSF helped strengthen these services by training and supporting healthcare workers at the new treatment centres. This support likely helped reduce the number of children requiring hospitalisation ahead of the peak season.“Strong commitments have been made by Katsina state, including the allocation of one billion naira [€ 672,500] to fight malnutrition – double the previous allocation – particularly to procure ready-to-use therapeutic food, which is essential for treating children with malnutrition,” Ishimwe adds. “UNICEF has also pledged to mobilise the same amount through its Child Nutrition Fund. If these commitments are fulfilled, this will be an encouraging sign that deserves to be supported and expanded across Katsina state and throughout northern Nigeria.” Katsina state has significantly expanded its network of ambulatory treatment centres from just a few in 2021 to around 400 today. Yet funding and access to ready-to-use therapeutic food remain major challenges year after year. Aid cuts by the US and several European countries, including France, Germany and the UK, have made this challenge even greater. According to UNICEF figures, less than half of the children with severe acute malnutrition worldwide has access to treatment for malnutrition, even though treatment can prevent death and reduce the risk of severe long-term consequences for a child’s development. In Nigeria, the Nutrition Society of Nigeria recently raised concerns over the scale of malnutrition, reporting that nearly 2
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