Médecins Sans Frontières: Hunger, Conflict, Disease Push Northern Nigeria Towards Humanitarian Brink

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

International medical humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has raised fresh alarm over what it described as a deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Nigeria, warning that worsening hunger, disease outbreaks, and insecurity are driving thousands of vulnerable families — especially children — towards death and despair.

In its 2025 Nigeria Country Report of Activities, the organisation painted a troubling picture of overstretched hospitals, rising cases of severe acute malnutrition, and communities trapped between poverty and violent conflict, particularly across northern Nigeria.

The report revealed that hundreds of thousands of children were now battling life-threatening malnutrition in Africa’s largest economy, exposing what humanitarian workers describe as the widening gap between economic realities and human survival.

MSF said more than 250,000 severely malnourished children were treated in outpatient facilities in 2024, while over 76,000 children suffering dangerous complications linked to malnutrition required emergency hospital admission.

The organisation warned that the crisis was no longer seasonal or temporary but had evolved into a chronic humanitarian emergency fuelled by inflation, displacement, insecurity, and collapsing access to healthcare.

“Malnutrition is no longer just an emergency during the lean season,” the organisation stated in the report. “For many families, it has become a permanent condition of survival,” it added.

In states across the North-west and North-east, medical facilities supported by MSF were reportedly struggling under the weight of increasing admissions linked to severe hunger, measles, malaria, and respiratory infections.

MSF sad the situation in Bauchi State reflected the scale of the emergency. It said between January and April 2025 alone, nearly 28,000 malnourished children were treated — a dramatic increase compared to the same period last year.

MSF also highlighted the deadly combination of malaria and malnutrition in Kano and surrounding states, warning that both conditions are reinforcing each other and placing children at even greater risk of death.

The humanitarian organisation said many parents now arrived at treatment centres after exhausting every coping mechanism, including skipping meals, selling possessions, and withdrawing children from school.

Beyond hunger, the report drew attention to the effect of insecurity on healthcare delivery, especially in conflict-affected communities where violence, displacement and fear continued to cut millions off from medical services.

In several communities, MSF teams reportedly operated in fragile environments where healthcare workers faced enormous logistical and security challenges while attempting to respond to disease outbreaks and medical emergencies.

The organisation also reflected on its long-running intervention against Lassa fever in Ebonyi State, where it supported treatment, laboratory systems, and emergency preparedness before formally transferring responsibilities to local authorities this year.

Despite the interventions, MSF warned that humanitarian needs across Nigeria were expanding faster than available resources.

The report called for urgent and sustained investment in nutrition, primary healthcare, disease surveillance and protection for vulnerable populations, warning that failure to act decisively can worsen an already fragile humanitarian situation.