About 6.4 million Nigerian children are expected to be acutely malnourished by the end of the year, putting impossible pressure on scarce treatment centres
Zuwaira Hanafi stood in shock as four doctors rushed past her to enter the ward where her eight-month-old daughter, Hambali, lay semiconscious.
At the entrance to the healthcare facility in Kaita community in Nigeria’s northern Katsina state, medical personnel were using colour-coded tape to measure the diameter of children’s arms and determine their levels of malnutrition. A steady stream of mothers, some as young as 15, filtered through with children, many of them, like Hambali, arriving in a critical state.
Zuwaira Hanafi watches over eight-month-old Hambali as she is treated for acute malnutrition
The children are victims of an unprecedented hunger crisis gripping vast swathes of Nigeria. The Red Cross has warned that up to 33 million Nigerians could face severe hunger this year, a record figure. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, about 6.4 million Nigerian children are expected to be acutely malnourished by the end of 2026, the majority in the north.
