MSF facilities in Bauchi state, northern Nigeria, have seen a rise of over 120% in patients admitted for malnutrition compared to the same period in 2023. From January to June 2024, we received 5,787 admissions into our ITFC (in-patient therapeutic feeding centre), compared to 2,514 for the same period last year. Part of the response plan is to increase awareness, knowledge and capacity among community members, training them to diagnose and treat malnutrition before it reaches a critical point. The iCCM/iCCM+ (Integrated Community Case Management) package, which is planned to launch on 19th July 2024, will now include a malnutrition component which is designed to train Community Oriented Resource Persons (CORPs) to diagnose and treat malaria, diarrhoea and malnutrition at the community level and refer those with medical complication to the nearest medical facility. The additional community-based activity is for the community health workers to teach the parents and care takers of the children, how to monitor for malnutrition by taking a ‘MUAC’ (middle upper arm circumference) measurement as part of the ‘parentsfamily-MUAC’ programme.

The whole of Nigeria is facing a catastrophic malnutrition crisis. Factors such as inflation; food insecurity; insufficient healthcare infrastructure; ongoing security issues, and disease outbreaks worsened by low vaccination coverage have exacerbated this year on year. 2024 has already been a record year for malnutrition admissions in northern Nigeria. Collectively MSF facilities in Nigeria reported 23,848 admissions between January and May 2024. This is a 40.2% increase compared to the same period last year.

As the needs for humanitarian assistance continue to escalate, the current aid and response efforts are proving to be inadequate. This is particularly true for the state of Bauchi which is consistently neglected from global humanitarian response plans and donor funding. Geographically Bauchi belongs to North-East Nigeria, however, it is not part of the ‘BAY’ (Borno, Adamawa and Yobe) states which are typically prioritised because of the historic violent conflict in the area.

It is crucial that communities in Bauchi do not get left behind; it is clear the needs in this area are huge. According to the global nutrition report 2021, 48.5% of children under five in Bauchi are underweight and 64.9% are stunted. As well as high numbers of admissions for malnutrition, the area has limited access to healthcare and 35% of children in Bauchi have never been vaccinated (zero-dose) leading to high rates of disease outbreaks.

The launch of iCCM/iCCM+in Bauchi is one way in which teams are responding to this crisis in the state. The addition of the malnutrition (ICCM+) component to the iCCM/iCCM+ activity will bring diagnosis and treatment of common childhood diseases like malaria, diarrhoea and malnutrition closer to the community to detect and treat the conditions at the early stage.

The use of Parentsfamily-MUAC training sessions will also increase our ability to respond to malnutrition at a community level and before children needed to be admitted to hospital. Community health workers will be trained by medical staff and nutrition experts to encourage parents and caregivers to use the colour coded bracelets to measure the MUAC of their children.