An additional one million children in Nigeria will suffer from acute malnutrition by April next year unless urgent action is taken, as extreme flooding, escalating violence and rampant food shortages fuel a deepening hunger crisis, the international humanitarian organization Save the Children warned on Tuesday. Nigeria is already the country with the highest absolute number of people facing severe acute food insecurity in the world.
Save the Children's analysis of new hunger data from Cadre Harmonisé - the leading regional authority on the severity of hunger crises in the Sahel and West Africa - shows that 5.4 million children are at risk of acute malnutrition by next April, a 25 percent increase from the 4.4 million this past April.
Of these, about 1.8 million could suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) - the deadliest form of malnutrition, which weakens children's immune systems and makes otherwise treatable illnesses such as diarrhea potentially fatal.
According to Save the Children, this represents an alarming 80 percent increase in SAM cases.
During this year's lean season - the time between harvests - an estimated 31.8 million people are facing crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity. Next year, it's predicted that 33.1 million people in Nigeria will be at crisis levels of hunger or worse - not knowing where their next meal will come from, according to Cadre Harmonisé figures. This number includes more than 16 million children, according to Save the Children.
Hunger in Nigeria has risen sharply in recent years, from about 7 percent of the population in the UN's 2020 analysis to 15 percent today. The situation is particularly dire in the northwest and northeast of the country, where ongoing conflict and insecurity are causing displacement and disrupting livelihoods.
Nigeria, Africa's largest economy and most populous country with over 223.8 million people, faces increasing violence from Islamic militants, particularly in the northeast, as well as large-scale criminal banditry concentrated in the northwest, communal violence between Christians and Muslims in the middle belt region, and competition for land and resources throughout the country.
Ongoing conflict, banditry, violence, the effects of climate change, escalating inflation, and the rising cost of both food and essential non-food commodities are driving food insecurity across the country. Nigerian authorities - at both the state and federal levels - have largely been unsuccessful in protecting their citizens from the violence.
Nigeria is highly vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis. Spreading desertification is eating up farmland and limiting communities' ability to grow food. This year, the country faced its worst floods in 30 years, killing more than 320 people, affecting at least 1.3 million people in 34 states, and forcing more than 700,000 people from their homes.
“In Nigeria, the crisis is reaching unprecedented levels as catastrophic climate disasters, escalating insecurity, and soaring prices threaten to leave over 16 million children hungry,” said Duncan Harvey, Save the Children’s Country Director for Nigeria, in a statement.
“Urgent action is essential to combat this devastating and unacceptable trend of child hunger and malnutrition and ensure a brighter future for Nigeria’s children.”
The humanitarian organization is calling on governments to address food insecurity by tackling food shortages, stabilizing rising prices and increasing protection for farmers facing violence from armed groups. Governments must also address the climate crisis by building the resilience of communities and increasing awareness and early warning so that people can prepare for climate-related disasters.
Further information
Full text: Nigeria: one million more children expected to suffer acute malnutrition in 2025 as hunger crisis deepens, Save the Children International, press release, published November 5, 2024
https://www.savethechildren.net/news/nigeria-one-million-more-children-expected-suffer-acute-malnutrition-2025-hunger-crisis