In Maiduguri, the capital city of Borno State (northeast Nigeria), our teams witnessed an unprecedented influx of malnourished children to our nutrition centre in the first semester of 2023. In April, we had to publicly raise the alarm following a sharp increase of admissions, way before the hunger gap season started. The number of admissions since the beginning of 2023 was the highest ever recorded by MSF for the same period in the past five years, even higher than the historical peak of 2022.

Given the scale of admissions, MSF teams adapted their response. We opened a second 130-bed ITFC facility in Fori; we increased the Nilefa Kiji bed capacity to 200 plus beds; we conducted targeted health promotion activities; we recruited additional staff, launched mobile consultation activities in IDP camps and started new targeted supplementary feeding programmes (TSFP) for children affected by moderate malnutrition to avoid a degradation into severe status. We also ran mobile clinics in Hajj camp and in Muna and Maisandari informal sites to reinforce access to primary health care.

As a result, from January to August 2023, 6,894 malnourished children in need of lifesaving treatment were admitted to the MSF’s Inpatient Therapeutic Feeding Centre (ITFC) facility in Maiduguri. Our team also treated 5,215 patients in ATFC (Ambulatory Therapeutic Feeding Centre) from January to August 2023. They also followed 981 children with the TSFP (Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programme) from June-August 2023.

Mid-September 2023, we eventually started noticing a slight reduction of hospitalizations, allowing us to close the second ITFC in Fori. Yet, people’s massive vulnerability to food insecurity calls for a boost in regular, preventative nutrition activities to avoid the recurrence of such disastrous situations – including increased access to healthcare services