Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) treated 425,634 Nigerian children for acute malnutrition in 2025, stressing the scale of the country’s nutrition crisis, particularly in the northern region.
The organisation disclosed this on Tuesday as it marked 30 years of humanitarian and medical operations in Nigeria, with government officials and United Nations representatives calling for stronger collaboration to address malnutrition, disease outbreaks, conflict and displacement.
MSF Country Representative, Dr Abdikadir Armiye, said the high number of children requiring treatment underscored the need to move beyond emergency medical interventions towards preventing malnutrition and tackling its underlying causes.
He noted that malnourished children were more vulnerable to diseases, while insecurity and displacement often deprived families of food, healthcare and other essential services.
Armiye identified malaria, cholera, diphtheria, measles and neglected diseases such as noma among the health challenges requiring sustained attention.
“We cannot treat our way out of it. We must also prevent it,” he said.
MSF began operating in Nigeria in 1996 in response to a meningitis epidemic in Kano, Bauchi and Katsina states. Its activities have since expanded to include maternal and child healthcare, nutrition, vaccination, surgery, tuberculosis and HIV treatment, as well as emergency assistance to communities affected by conflict and displacement.
Armiye said the organisation currently operated projects across nine states, working with health ministries at federal, state and local government levels, alongside humanitarian partners.
He said MSF remained committed to providing medical care based on need, regardless of patients’ nationality, religion, ethnicity, political affiliation or social status.
Also speaking, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Elsie Attafuah, said the number of children treated for malnutrition reflected the challenges facing communities affected by insecurity, rising costs, disrupted livelihoods and limited access to essential services.
She called for stronger coordination between government, humanitarian organisations and development partners, stressing that emergency assistance must be linked to long-term investments in healthcare, security and development.
Attafuah outlined three priorities for future collaboration: protecting people and access to healthcare, connecting emergency assistance with prevention and sustained services, and investing in Nigerian leadership and institutional capacity.
“A reopened clinic needs trained staff and medicines. Families returning to farming need safety and access to markets,” she said.
She also called for greater investment in peacebuilding, stronger health systems and local capacity, alongside the protection of humanitarian access and medical neutrality.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, commended MSF for its interventions in communities affected by conflict, displacement, disease outbreaks and malnutrition.
Akume, represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ecological Project Office, Dr Aishetu Gogo Ndayako Mohammed, said the organisation’s experience in emergency response, maternal and child healthcare, nutrition and disease control offered lessons for strengthening Nigeria’s health system.
Similarly, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, called for sustained collaboration between the government, MSF and other partners to address the country’s humanitarian and development challenges.
Bagudu, represented by the ministry’s Director of Internal Cooperation, Dr Sampson Ebimaro, said government interventions should strengthen local institutions and support sustainable healthcare delivery.
He said MSF treated more than 341,000 malaria patients, assisted over 35,590 deliveries and conducted 224 fistula surgeries in 2025, while responding to outbreaks of cholera, measles, diphtheria and Lassa fever.
“The ultimate measure of our success is not how many interventions we deliver, but whether we build the capacity of Nigerian institutions to deliver those interventions and sustain them whenever MSF decides to hand over operations to the host state,” he said.
Bagudu added that development efforts must reach communities facing the greatest challenges, particularly those affected by conflict, displacement and poverty.
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