Médecins Sans Frontières: Hunger, Conflict, and Disease Push Northern Nigeria to a Humanitarian Crisis

International medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has issued a new warning about a worsening humanitarian crisis in Nigeria, citing escalating hunger, disease outbreaks, and insecurity that are pushing thousands of vulnerable families—especially children—toward death and despair.

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

The report highlighted that hundreds of thousands of children are now battling life‑threatening malnutrition in Africa’s largest economy, underscoring what humanitarian workers describe as a widening gap between economic realities and human survival.

MSF reported that 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 is no longer seasonal or temporary but has become a chronic humanitarian emergency driven by inflation, displacement, insecurity, and collapsing access to healthcare.

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

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

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

The organisation also highlighted the deadly combination of malaria and malnutrition in Kano and surrounding states, warning that both conditions reinforce each other and place children at even greater risk of death.

Many parents now arrive at treatment centres after exhausting every coping mechanism, including skipping meals, selling possessions, and withdrawing children from school.

Beyond hunger, the report draws attention to the impact of insecurity on healthcare delivery, especially in conflict‑affected communities where violence, displacement and fear continue to cut millions off from medical services.

In several communities, MSF teams reportedly operate in fragile environments where healthcare workers face enormous logistical and security challenges while responding to disease outbreaks and medical emergencies.

The organisation 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 these interventions, MSF warned that humanitarian needs across Nigeria are expanding faster than available resources.

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