An International nongovernmental organization, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has warned that North West states are in a serious malnutrition crisis that needs intervention of the United Nations and other donor agencies.
MSF also noted that the crisis, exacerbated by security challenges, was mostly overlooked by donor agencies that it accused of focusing on the insurgency in the North East.
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It disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday and signed by the Field Communication Manager in Nigeria, Nasir Gafoor.
MSF also said, “Since the beginning of 2022, MSF teams have witnessed extraordinarily high numbers of children with malnutrition in MSF’s programs located in five states across northwest Nigeria. Multiple factors have led to a sharp increase in malnutrition in the region over the last year.
“Since January, MSF teams working in collaboration with the Nigerian health authorities have treated close to 100,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition in 34 outpatient facilities and admitted about 17,000 children requiring hospital care in 10 inpatient centres in Kano, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kebbi states.
“In Zamfara state, one of the areas most affected by ongoing violence and banditry, we recorded a 64 percent increase in the numbers of severely malnourished children treated in the outpatient nutritional departments supported by MSF from January to August 2022 when compared to January to August 2021,” the statement added.
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