In Nigeria’s northeast city of Maiduguri, Borno State, medical teams of Médecins Sans Frontières are witnessing a massive increase in children admitted for malnutrition in their therapeutic feeding centre. The number of admissions in the first quarter of 2023 is the highest ever recorded by MSF for the same period in the area. The situation is particularly alarming as we are still weeks ahead of the lean season, a “hunger gap” period when malnutrition rates usually boom in the region. The number of people we are treating at this time of the year is a clear sign that a swift nutrition response is needed now, inside and outside camps, to avoid a potentially catastrophic situation when the hunger gap period starts.

From early January to mid-April 2023, 1,141 malnourished children were admitted for intensive hospital care at the MSF feeding centre. The number of weekly admissions for severe malnutrition is two to three times higher than what we have seen in the past five years. And the trend is on the rise.

Authorities and humanitarian organizations in the area must immediately boost up nutrition-related activities, expand access to healthcare and increase bed capacity for the provision of intensive feeding care as we are expecting the number of beds to be badly insufficient in the coming months.

In addition to intensive and ambulatory therapeutic food services, MSF teams are also increasing targeted feeding activities for children affected by moderate malnutrition to reduce the risk of degradation into severe status. Mobile clinics are also organized in the Hajj, Muna and Maisandari camps to reinforce access to primary health care.