WORLD · VERIFIED DEVELOPMENT
Nigeria's Malnutrition Crisis Persists in Northern Region
WHY IT MATTERS
The malnutrition crisis in northern Nigeria contributes to the deaths of thousands of children every year, highlighting the need for sustained, large-scale financial mobilisation by Nigeria's federal and state authorities, international donors, and humanitarian partners.
What happened
In northern Nigeria, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported exceptionally high numbers of children admitted for malnutrition in 2025. Although the number of children treated in Katsina state decreased slightly in 2026, the figure remains extremely high.
MSF teams treated over 87,000 children for acute malnutrition in Katsina State between January and August 2026. The high number of children with kwashiorkor, a severe form of malnutrition, is a notable aspect of the crisis.
Factors contributing to the nutritional crisis include poverty, conflict, disease outbreaks, and extreme weather events. Improved security and better harvests in 2025 helped alleviate the nutrition crisis in Katsina state this year.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Nigeria: Kwashiorkor - an enduring malnutrition enigma
ReliefWeb / original provider · Médecins Sans Frontières · ReliefWeb aggregation; original provider terms apply; link and attribution to the named source required
CORRECTIONS & UPDATES
- Revision 1 · Initial ingestion · Oct 15, 2026, 11:00 AM
- Revision 2 · Source update detected · Oct 15, 2026, 11:00 AM