Child malnutrition is exploding in northern Nigeria, where insecurity, poverty, and lack of funding are plunging millions of children into hunger. An investigation into a humanitarian crisis the world is forgetting.

A humanitarian crisis of alarming proportions

In northern Nigeria, a silent tragedy is unfolding. According to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) , more than 5.4 million children under five are suffering from acute malnutrition , including 1.8 million with severe forms.

In Katsina State , MSF facilities observed a 208% increase in cases of malnutrition with edema – the most severe form – between January and June 2025.

"Every week, we receive children too weak to be saved," laments a medical official of the organization.

Since January, 652 children have died in MSF treatment centers in Katsina.

The roots of the scourge: insecurity, poverty and lack of care

The northern states – Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Borno – are fraught with fragility: chronic insecurity, extreme poverty and deficient health infrastructure.

Armed violence prevents farmers from cultivating their land, causing a dramatic drop in food production .

Faced with soaring prices, many families survive on just one meal a day .

"Mothers have run out of milk. Children are wasting away before our eyes," a nurse was quoted as saying by The Guardian Nigeria .

Humanitarian funding, however, is shrinking. NGOs are having to make impossible choices: who should be fed first?

Figures that reveal the urgency

In some rural areas, the rate of global acute malnutrition (GAM) exceeds 30% , a critical threshold according to the World Health Organization (WHO) .

The situation worsens every year during the "hunger season," when food reserves run out and prices soar.

According to Vanguard Nigeria , the number of cases treated in MSF clinics has jumped by more than 50% compared to 2024.

"Without immediate support, we risk a large-scale humanitarian catastrophe," warns MSF.

Lifelong after-effects for survivors

Malnutrition doesn't just kill: it slowly destroys.

Children who survive remain vulnerable:

-growth delays,

-cognitive deficits,

-increased vulnerability to infectious diseases,

-decline in academic success.

UNICEF points out that a child suffering from severe acute malnutrition is nine times more likely to die from a preventable disease.

Call for national and international mobilization

Faced with the scale of the crisis, MSF , UNICEF and several NGOs are calling for urgent action .

Food aid must be increased, nutrition centers supported , and sustainable prevention programs put in place.

But the real answer also involves stability and agricultural recovery : without security in the countryside, hunger will continue to gain ground.

An avoidable tragedy

Northern Nigeria is currently experiencing one of the worst nutritional crises on the African continent.

Every lost child is a symbol of a collective failure: that of a world that tolerates avoidable hunger.

Malnutrition is not inevitable—it is a political, social, and human emergency.