ALBAWABA - According to a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Nigeria has the largest number of food insecure people globally.
The FAO office in the northeastern city of Maiduguri said that the number of Nigerians facing acute levels of hunger surpasses the 31.8 million mark, with warnings of the situation deteriorating even more if immediate action is not taken.
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders - MSF), which operates in seven states across the country, said that their facilities were so overcrowded that children were treated on mattresses on the floor.
MSF reported that 1,250 children were hospitalized at an inpatient therapeutic feeding center in Maiduguri in April, more than double the amount from the same month in 2023.
Severe acute malnutrition has also been linked to other illnesses such as tuberculosis and severe diarrhea, as well as stunted child growth. According to MSF data, almost 52,000 individuals were diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition in seven states in 2023, with 2,693 of them dying.
The causes for the rise in malnutrition are well known: food inflation is approaching 30%, and Africa's most populous country is facing rising food insecurity.
MSF’s Nigeria representative, Dr. Simba Tirima, stated: "In all these places we’ve seen, at least in some cases, double what we saw last year or at least a more than 60% increase in the patients admitted. We have a crisis at hand. We have an emergency at hand, and those kids that are severely malnourished need treatment".
According to the UN's International Organization for Migration, violence has displaced around 1.2 million people in eight states in central and northwestern Nigeria as of the end of 2022.
During the same time period, around 2.3 million people were displaced in the northeast, where militant groups such as Boko Haram remain active.
