The Red Cross has issued an urgent warning about the sharp rise in severe child malnutrition in northeast Nigeria, a region heavily impacted by ongoing conflict.
According to the organisation, clinics in the area have recorded a 24% increase in the number of severely malnourished children admitted this year. The 15-year insurgency led by Boko Haram and other groups has claimed over 40,000 lives and displaced approximately two million people in the region.
The prolonged conflict has also destroyed livelihoods, obstructed access to agricultural lands, and disrupted markets, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported that the number of severely malnourished children admitted to its clinics rose from 6,824 to 8,470 within a year.
NGOs have also raised concerns that climate change and recent flooding are worsening the crisis, affecting countries across the wider Lake Chad area, including Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. Last month, severe floods in Maiduguri killed at least 31 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, marking one of the worst flood events in Nigeria’s history.
Thousands of homes were submerged after a dam burst following a weekend of heavy rainfall. The floods also devastated crops, undermining hopes of a successful harvest after a particularly harsh dry season.
The UN recently released $5 million to support flood victims in Nigeria, a country currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation. Humanitarian agencies estimate that over six million people in the Lake Chad Basin will face food shortages in the coming months due to conflict and climate change.
