Over 2.5 Million Children in Northeast Nigeria at Risk of Severe Malnutrition – UNICEF
By Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri
Over 2.5 million children in Northeast Nigeria are at risk of severe acute malnutrition (SAM), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned.
UNICEF Country Representative Wafaa Saeed Abdelatef raised the alarm during a press briefing on Thursday in Maiduguri, Borno State, describing the situation as “deeply moving”.
“During my three-day visit to health centres, schools, and displacement camps, I witnessed firsthand the hardships families are enduring,” Abdelatef said. She recounted meeting a young girl whose childhood had been stolen by over 16 years of conflict in Borno State. “Behind every statistic is a child living in fear but still holding on to hope,” she added.
The UN agency highlighted that Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe remain the epicentre of Nigeria’s humanitarian crisis. Over 4.5 million people in these states require urgent assistance, including 2.25 million children. Many families are skipping meals, while children continue to suffer from severe malnutrition.
Despite these challenges, UNICEF and its partners reached 1.3 million people with health services between January and June 2025. In the same period, 340,000 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition, and more than 185,000 people gained access to safe drinking water.
Abdelatef stressed the urgency of scaling up interventions. “Our life-saving efforts in nutrition, health, and water are crucial, but the needs are increasing faster than we can respond,” she said.
Highlighting broader priorities, the UNICEF representative emphasised nutrition, education, and immunisation as key focus areas. Nigeria has 2.1 million zero-dose children—the highest in the world—leaving one in three one-year-olds unvaccinated and vulnerable to deadly, vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, diphtheria, meningitis, and polio. She warned, “A wasted child who is not immunised is up to 12 times more likely to die from common illnesses than a healthy child.”
Abdelatef urged federal and state governments to intensify efforts on immunisation and primary healthcare to ensure that every child, regardless of location, is reached and protected.
