The Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), has said that in recent years, more than 600,000 people have been displaced from their homes in northwest Nigeria as a result of extreme violence, deteriorating economic conditions, and climate change.
According to a statement signed by Communications Officer | MSF Nigeria, Mr Mohamed Ali Adan, a copy made available on Wednesday to the press in Kano, saying
“The level of humanitarian support available to respond to people’s critical needs in northern Nigeria is in dramatic decline”
He added that “In the northwest, a humanitarian crisis persists, with catastrophic levels of malnutrition and recurrent outbreaks of preventable diseases”
Despite encouraging signs of mobilisation from humanitarian actors and donors in 2023, MSF warns that the funding and aid currently available are vastly insufficient for people’s growing humanitarian needs.
He hinted that ” While both northeast and northwest regions remain affected by high levels of malnutrition and preventable diseases, the non-inclusion of the latter in all previous Humanitarian Response Plans (HRP) is alarming.
“We have repeatedly expressed our concerns to the UN and donors about the alarming and deteriorating humanitarian crisis in the northwest,”
“The lack of recognition of the crisis is having a severe impact on the health and humanitarian needs of the population, and delaying the response which is desperately needed
He noted that ” People living in the states of Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina and Kebbi have been hit by the persistent violence, mainly armed banditry and kidnappings in northwest Nigeria.
Last year, more than 2,000 people were killed in more than 1,000 violent incidents in the region, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
He further disclosed that people are being displaced from their homes, people have lost their livelihoods, and are often no longer able to reach their farms for security reasons, they struggle to find food, and accessing healthcare and other basic services has become increasingly difficult and dangerous.
Last year, MSF medical teams working in Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina and Kano states treated 171,465 malnourished children as outpatients and admitted 32,104 children for life-threatening severe acute malnutrition – a 14 per cent rise on the previous year. In Katsina,
MSF found high levels of acute malnutrition in 2023 with 17,4% of the surveyed children suffering from acute malnutrition in the Jibia local government area at the beginning of the lean season, so not even when access to food is the most difficult.
The high rate of admissions to inpatient facilities has been accompanied by alarming mortality rates, as was the case in one of our supported facilities in Zamfara state where it reached 23,1%
. Sadly, many children are dying within 48 hours after arriving in critical conditions, too late to be saved due to the barriers in reaching healthcare.
Overall, 854 children admitted to MSF facilities in the northwest died 24 to 48 hours after admission in 2023.
The organisation however hinted that ” in
order to alleviate the suffering of vulnerable populations, MSF believes that priority should be given to preventing and treating malnutrition, and to vaccinating people against preventable diseases,
As well as improving routine and catch-up immunisations and carrying out reactive vaccination campaigns in response to ongoing disease outbreaks.
This is paramount for reducing morbidity and mortality amongst vulnerable populations, particularly children under five years.
