Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a global health humanitarian non-governmental organisation, said it treated 60,566 children for malnutrition in Zamfara State in 2025 alone.
In an official communication posted on the NGO’s official Facebook page on Wednesday, MSF said the situation was aggravated by hunger and disease.
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‘The rains also coincide with the lean season, when food stored are exhausted and new harvests are still months away. Undernutrition weakens immune systems, turning common illnesses into deadly threats, particularly for children.
“In 2025, MSF treated 60,566 children for malnutrition in Zamfara, as hunger and disease combined into a dangerous cycle,’ the organisation said.
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PREMIUM TIMES reports that Zamfara State is the epicentre of a decade-long menace of banditry that has ravaged Nigeria’s northwest.
The bike-riding terrorists often invade communities, killing and abducting residents. Most of those affected in the rural communities are farmers and traders.
Killing of farmers and displacement of others has affected food production as a PREMIUM TIMES field investigation revealed in 2023.
Besides malnutrition, MSF said it has also treated children for various diseases in the state.
In 2025, the group said it ‘treated 136,778 malaria and 13,877 cholera patients in Zamfara, showing how quickly illness escalates during the rainy season.’
The health NGO said every year, the rainy season brought diseases, complicating the already strained situation in the state and the sub-region.
‘In northwestern Nigeria, particularly in Zamfara State, the rainy season brings more than relief from the heat. It brings distress, disease, and preventable deaths.
” For communities already affected by years of armed violence, displacement, and poverty, daily survival between May and September becomes an overwhelming struggle as flooding, outbreaks of infectious diseases, and worsening food insecurity come together,” it noted.
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MSF said while it would continue to scale up its emergency responses across northern Nigeria. However, it noted that most of the deaths were preventable.
“Preventive action before and during the rainy season is critical. Strengthening community awareness, improving access to safe water and sanitation, and ensuring timely vaccination campaigns can reduce the impact of diseases,” said Sani Adamu, nursing activity manager in MSF project Shinkafi.
“Health facilities must also be properly equipped and supported to diagnose and treat patients quickly and effectively.”
