According to Doctors Without Borders, at least 652 children in the state of Katsina in Nigeria perished from malnutrition in the first six months of 2025.
The charity, which is known by its French name MSF, claimed in a statement on Friday that Katsina, which is located in the country’s north, continued to experience violence and insecurity, and that the deaths were brought on by funding cuts from international donors.
According to MSF, “We are currently seeing massive budget cuts, particularly from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union,” which are having a real impact on the care of malnourished children.
Nearly 70, 000 malnourished children had already received medical care from the MSF teams in Katsina State, according to the NGO, including nearly 10,000 who were in serious condition by the end of June this year.
However, it made a strong point that northern Nigeria needs to be mobilized right away to prevent and treat malnutrition.
Other socioeconomic indicators, including insecurity and violence, are contributing to malnutrition in the north of Nigeria, which are caused by low vaccine coverage, access to basic health services, and other factors that are contributing to malnutrition.
According to MSF, “unfortunately 652 children have already died in our facilities since the beginning of 2025,” the number of children in Katsina suffering from the most severe form of malnutrition has increased by about 208 percent this year compared to the same period last year.
In Katsina, where many people have been forced to leave their farms due to insecurity, banditry is prevalent. The government has worked hard to stop bandits’ activities along with local civilian vigilante organizations.
WFP stops providing aid
The UN food agency announced on Wednesday that because supplies had run out due to “critical funding shortfalls,” it would have to stop providing food and nutrition aid to 1.3 million people in Nigeria’s northeast by the end of July.
Margot van der Velden, the regional head of the World Food Programme (WFP), stated that it will be heartbreaking to have to halt humanitarian aid to the populations in conflict-stricken regions.
That means that 700, 000 displaced people will be left with no means of survival, according to her, and more than 1.3 million people in Nigeria will lose access to food and nutrition support. 150 nutrition clinics in Borno State in the northeast may close, and 300, 000 children are at risk of severe malnutrition, according to the report.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been the foundation of the humanitarian response in northeastern Nigeria for many years, assisting non-governmental organizations in providing food, shelter, and healthcare to millions of people.
The Trump administration has slashed foreign aid and disbanded USAID, blaming it for supporting a liberal agenda and supporting waste. Additionally, other Western donors have reduced their funding for international aid.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply