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 In-patient Therapeutic Feeding Centre (ITFC), compared to 2,514 for the same period last year. As part of our response plan, we aim to increase awareness, knowledge, and capacity among community members by training them to diagnose and treat malnutrition before it reaches a critical point. The Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM/iCCM+) package is planned to launch on 19th July 2024, which will train Community-Oriented Resource Persons (CORPs) to diagnose and treat malaria, diarrhoea, and malnutrition at the community level. Additionally, community health workers will teach parents and caretakers how to monitor for malnutrition by taking a Middle Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) measurement as part of the 'Mama MUAC' programme.
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 vaccine coverage have exacerbated the situation year after year. 2024 has already been a record year for admitted cases of malnutrition 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.