Nutritional crisis in northwest Nigeria

Nigerian photographer George Osodi has been to Katsina State to document the ever-deepening food crisis in northwest Nigeria. Osodi’s photos offer a rare glimpse into a remote region where Médecins Sans Frontières teams continue to treat thousands of children suffering from malnutrition.

Much of northern Nigeria’s population are severely food insecure. More and more attacks by armed groups locally known as "bandits," communities prevented from getting to their fields and livelihoods and increasing food prices have triggered a major nutritional crisis that is going to get worse.

In 2022, MSF’s teams are preparing to treat as many as 100,000 malnourished children in Katsina State’s only nutrition programme. The hunger gap has barely begun, and with the peak malaria season yet to come, the situation will likely deteriorate further.

With few international relief organisations present in the region, without more aid the nutrition situation could become unmanageable. As the 2022 humanitarian response plan focuses solely on northeast Nigeria, many organisations are unable to secure the funding they require to deploy operations in the northwest of the country.
As MSF is almost the only organisation responding to the nutrition and health needs of severely malnourished children in the region, its teams continue to provide assistance in Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto and Kano States. Between January and June 2022, they treated over 50,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition in five northwest Nigeria states. 7,000 of the children were hospitalised.

MSBSTO30715

Linked assets