Christos Cristo, International President of Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, said the number of malnourished children in northern Nigeria is seriously increasing.
Mr. Cristo stated this at a press conference in Abuja on Friday after visiting Maiduguri, saying that between January and August this year, the number of hospitalizations of children with severe alpha disease was 51, compared to the same period last year. He pointed out that there was an increase in the percentage.
He said people in northern Nigeria are experiencing many hardships, including overwhelming levels of malnutrition, frequent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, and a lack of health facilities and health workers. It is further exacerbated by ongoing anxiety.
“During my visit to Maiduguri, I visited hospitals and clinics where MSF works. We support local health systems in tackling malaria and other diseases and providing access to maternity services. Recently, a cholera outbreak was officially declared and we had to set up a cholera treatment center. All this is happening in the context of a devastating malnutrition crisis.
“One of my colleagues, a Nigerian doctor who has been working with MSF for more than eight years, told me that a lot has changed this year. At this time of year, a terrible number of malnourished children are in critical condition. But this year, at a time when the peak should have passed, the number of hospitalized patients has not decreased.
“To make matters worse, the conditions in which they arrived were even more dire than usual. In many cases, people do not have access to even basic medical care where they live, nor do they have sufficient money or transportation. As a result, they contact us too late,” he explained.
He said many organizations providing aid in Maiduguri and other parts of the north had cut their budgets or ceased operations.
He said: “In recent years, MSF has seen a significant increase in the number of hospitalizations due to malnutrition. The numbers for 2022 and 2023 are already very high. Meanwhile, hospitalizations of severely malnourished children increased by 51 percent compared to the same period last year. In the first eight months of this year, we saw severe, life-threatening malnutrition across northern Nigeria. We have treated 52,725 children with ataxia.”
In support of this, MSF Head of Mission Ahmad Bilal said that in the provinces where MSF operates, there were 200,000 admissions to outpatient feeding centres, with an increase in admissions between January and August. He said the number was 52,000 compared to last year.
“Last year, the number of admissions at ATFC increased by 50% and the number of admissions at the Inpatient Therapeutic Feeding Center increased by 60%. This is concerning given that the number has increased by more than 50%.
