from EMEKA OKONKWO in Abuja, Nigeria
Nigeria Bureau
ABUJA, (CAJ News) – DISPLACEMENT caused by insecurity and economic shocks has triggered alarming levels of acute malnutrition in northeast Nigeria.
Children are the worst affected amid record levels of food insecurity during the worst lean season in years.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has called attention to the significant rise in cases of children with acute malnutrition across all its treatment sites in Adamawa and Borno states.
Babatunde Ojei, Country Director for the IRC in Nigeria, said food security was severely challenged by rising prices and attacks by non-state armed groups, hindering humanitarian efforts, hampering access to basic commodities and leading in turn to increased acute malnutrition rates.
In the metropolitan areas where IRC is working right now, the prevalence of malnutrition has gone from 12 percent to 16 percent between 2022 and 2023.
“The prevalence is likely to be higher in garrison towns and worse in communities where access to humanitarian services are limited.” Ojei said.
In May this year, the IRC recorded a 70 percent increase at Mashamari nutrition treatment centre compared to the previous year.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also reported the highest admissions rate for children with severe and moderate acute malnutrition in May. This was equivalent to caseloads seen during the peak of the 2023 lean season.
IRC has lamented that the humanitarian response faced severe underfunding, especially during critical periods. It is currently funded at less than a third for the targeted support of preventive and treatment services during this lean season.
Northeastern Nigeria is the epicentre of an insurgency by militants of the Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State-West Africa Province (ISWAP).
– CAJ News