Alarm raised over deteriorating malnutrition in Nigeria

The United Nations is calling on the government of Nigeria and the donor community to urgently provide resources to support children as the nutrition crisis in the country continues to deteriorate.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, an innovative multi-stakeholder initiative to improve analysis and decision-making on food security, an estimated 5.9 million children under the age of five in the northeast and northwest of Nigeria are estimated to suffer from acute malnutrition between May this year and April next year.

This includes more than 1.6 million severe acute malnutrition cases. In addition, 511,890 pregnant and lactating women will likely be acutely malnourished.

According to the UN Children's Fund, children with severe acute malnutrition are 12 times more likely to die than a healthy child.

Speaking at a news briefing on Wednesday, Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said more than 650,000 hectares of farmland were damaged in the recent flooding that impacted Nigeria.

"We and our partners are concerned that this will aggravate the situation," he said.

The floods that have hit Nigeria since July, have affected 4.4 million people across the country, displaced 2.4 million people and killed more than 660.

The COVID-19 impacts and conflicts have also contributed to the hunger crisis in the country.

Currently, more than 19 million people across Nigeria are facing severe food insecurity, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In response to the malnutrition situation, the Food and Agriculture Organization will scale up the production and distribution of supplementary food powder to 10,000 households with funding from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund.

FAO also plans to distribute food vouchers for 5,000 families, distribute poultry, goats and feed to over 8,000 households, and support 14,000 other households with dry season food production kits.

"We are calling for resources to sustain and scale up these humanitarian interventions. Currently, the humanitarian response plan for the northeast is less than 50 percent funded," Dujarric said.

Just like Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are also experiencing malnutrition and hunger due to the worst drought experienced within the countries, following four consecutive failed rainy seasons.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 7.46 million children under the age of five are estimated to face acute malnutrition, including 1.85 million facing its most severe form in the three countries.

Already, 20.9 million people are have issue sourcing food due to the two-year drought, including 3.4 million people in emergency in Kenya and Somalia and 300,560 people in catastrophe in Somalia.