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Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, said it treated 425,634 children for acute malnutrition in Nigeria in 2025, representing a 41.8 per cent increase over the previous year, as it called for sustained action to address the country’s growing health and humanitarian crises.
MSF made the disclosure yesterday in Abuja while marking 30 years of providing free medical humanitarian services in Nigeria, with government officials, diplomats, United Nations representatives, community leaders, health professionals and humanitarian partners in attendance.
The organisation’s Country Representative, Dr Ahmed Aldikhari, said the scale of malnutrition, particularly in northern Nigeria, had become one of the country’s most pressing health emergencies.
He, however, stressed that medical treatment alone could not resolve the crisis and urged stronger preventive interventions and collaboration among government, donors, communities and humanitarian organisations.
“Treatment is essential. It is why we exist, but treatment alone cannot resolve a crisis of this scale. We cannot treat our way out of it. We must also prevent it,” Aldikhari said.
He said malnutrition, infectious diseases, maternal health needs, displacement and insecurity were closely interconnected, noting that children weakened by malnutrition were more vulnerable to disease, while displacement could cut families off from food, clean water and healthcare.
MSF said that between January and August 2026, its teams treated 57,999 children with malnutrition in inpatient facilities and another 220,995 through outpatient programmes.
The organisation also cited the Food and Agriculture Organization’s projection that 34.7 million Nigerians could face crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity during the 2026 lean season, while more than 5.4 million children were expected to suffer acute malnutrition.
Beyond the statistics, however, the anniversary event brought the human impact of MSF’s interventions into sharp focus.
Hussaini Usman, a noma survivor from Sokoto State, recounted how the disease deformed his face as a child and subjected him to years of stigma and rejection in his community.
Usman said he continued his education despite the discrimination and eventually obtained his medical degree before learning about MSF-supported treatment at the Noma Children Hospital in Sokoto.
He sought treatment and underwent surgery free of charge.
“MSF has treated me freely. From that time, the chapter of my life has changed,” he said.
According to Usman, the transformation went beyond the physical correction of his facial deformity, as people who previously avoided him began interacting with him after the surgery.
His relationship with MSF subsequently extended beyond treatment, with the organisation offering him employment. He now participates in community awareness activities on noma prevention and has also been able to pursue further education.
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“Even standing in your presence is a great testimony to me because I didn’t even think that I could be able to stand in a congregation like this before,” Usman said.
Similarly, a community leader from Jigawa State recounted how MSF treated a woman suffering from obstetric fistula, rehabilitated her and reunited her with her husband and family.
He said the woman was brought to MSF after suffering from urinary incontinence and was admitted, treated and rehabilitated before returning to her family.
According to him, the woman has since given birth to two children.
He said her experience prompted the family to send a message of appreciation to MSF, which he delivered during the anniversary event as testimony to the organisation’s impact in his community.
A United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative also highlighted the importance of collaboration among humanitarian organisations, recalling the case of a critically ill child encountered during a recent cholera response in Maiduguri.
She said knowledge shared by a former MSF staff member helped health workers overcome difficulties in accessing the child’s vein and administering intravenous treatment.
The UNICEF official praised MSF’s dedication, saying the changing humanitarian landscape, climate change and financial constraints made collaboration even more important.
“We need to unite more than ever,” she said.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, represented by the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, also commended MSF for supporting vulnerable groups, particularly women and children, and providing medical care where health systems were under pressure.
Since commencing operations in Nigeria in 1996, MSF said it had responded to outbreaks of cholera, measles, meningitis and diphtheria, while expanding into maternal and paediatric care, nutrition, vaccination, surgery, tuberculosis, HIV and emergency assistance.
The organisation currently operates across 10 states, with more than 3,400 staff, over 90 per cent of whom are Nigerians.
In 2025 alone, MSF said it assisted 39,200 deliveries, admitted 230,600 patients to supported hospitals and vaccinated 881,500 children.
MSF said the anniversary was not merely an opportunity to celebrate past achievements but also to examine what remained to be done.
“Thirty years is not only an opportunity to recognise what has been achieved, but also to look at what communities need today,” it said.
