More than 87,000 children received outpatient treatment for acute malnutrition at four therapeutic feeding centres run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Katsina State between January and August.
The number is lower than the over 95,000 treated during the same period in 2025, but MSF says it remains extremely high.
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Nearly 15,500 children were also hospitalised for severe or complicated malnutrition in the first eight months of 2026, compared with about 16,500 during the corresponding period last year.
MSF’s medical coordinator in Nigeria, Raphael Kananga, said the figures remained troubling despite the decline.
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“This is lower than in 2025, when we treated more than 95,000 children over the same period, but the figure remains extremely high and is even above what we saw two years ago,” Mr Kananga said.
The figures cover children treated in MSF facilities and do not represent the total number of malnourished children in Katsina State.
MSF identified poverty, inflation, insecurity, displacement, disease outbreaks and extreme weather as major drivers of the crisis. These factors have disrupted farming and limited access to food in vulnerable communities.
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Kwashiorkor complicates treatment
MSF also raised concern about the high number of children with kwashiorkor, a severe form of malnutrition characterised by swelling of the body and, in some cases, skin lesions.
Caregivers may find the condition difficult to recognise, which can delay treatment.
To address the problem, MSF opened a specialised unit within its inpatient therapeutic feeding centre in Katsina to care for children with kwashiorkor.
Badiyya Shafi’u, whose child received treatment at the facility, said she initially failed to recognise the symptoms as malnutrition.
“I didn’t think it was malnutrition. This kind of condition is difficult to recognise,” she said.
Her child’s condition had deteriorated to the point where he could not sit without assistance.
“Before, he could not even sit up on his own. If someone helped him sit, he would immediately fall back down,” she recalled.
Following treatment, she said, the child could sit independently, remain standing with assistance and had begun trying to walk again.
MSF did not provide a separate figure for the number of children diagnosed with kwashiorkor during the reporting period.
Improved harvests, security linked to fewer admissions
MSF attributed part of the reduction in treatment figures to improved security and better agricultural harvests in parts of Katsina during 2025.
Its partnership coordinator, Jean-Clément Ishimwe, said some families displaced by insecurity in Jibia and Batsari local government areas had returned home and resumed farming.
“Many people displaced from Jibia or Batsari local governmental areas because of insecurity had been living in areas such as Katsina, Mashi and Mani,” he said.
“Since last year, however, they have been able to return home and resume farming.”
According to Mr Ishimwe, the return enabled some households to access food more easily and coincided with fewer patients arriving at MSF treatment centres.
The organisation also linked the decline in hospitalisations to increased humanitarian interventions and the opening of additional outpatient and inpatient treatment facilities by the Katsina State Government.
MSF supported the expansion by training healthcare workers and strengthening services at the new centres.
It said these interventions likely helped reduce the number of children requiring hospitalisation ahead of the peak malnutrition season.
The decline in admissions, however, does not independently establish a corresponding reduction in the overall prevalence of malnutrition across Katsina State.
₦1 billion allocation and UNICEF commitment
MSF acknowledged increased government efforts to address the crisis but warned that inadequate funding and shortages of ready-to-use therapeutic food continued to threaten treatment services.
According to Mr Ishimwe, the Katsina State Government allocated ₦1 billion to tackle malnutrition, doubling its previous allocation, particularly for the procurement of therapeutic food.
He said UNICEF had also pledged to mobilise an equivalent amount through its Child Nutrition Fund.
“Strong commitments have been made by Katsina State, including the allocation of one billion naira to fight malnutrition,” he said.
“If these commitments are fulfilled, this will be an encouraging sign that deserves to be supported and expanded across Katsina State and throughout northern Nigeria.”
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The MSF article did not specify how much of the state’s ₦1 billion allocation had been released or spent, or whether UNICEF had completed the proposed matching contribution.
The organisation said Katsina had expanded its network of ambulatory treatment centres from only a few in 2021 to approximately 400 in 2026.
Despite the expansion, funding constraints and difficulties obtaining therapeutic food remain recurring challenges.
MSF said reductions in humanitarian assistance from the United States and several European countries, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom, had further complicated efforts to sustain treatment programmes.
Wider crisis across northern Nigeria
The situation in Katsina forms part of a wider childhood malnutrition crisis affecting several northern states.
Across its nutrition projects in seven northern states, MSF said its teams treated 57,999 children in inpatient facilities and 225,778 through outpatient programmes between January and August.
The organisation also cited concerns raised by the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, which reported that nearly two million Nigerian children were affected by severe acute malnutrition, while only about two in every 10 received treatment.
The figures, cited in MSF’s article, reflect the society’s assessment rather than a new nationwide survey conducted by MSF.
The humanitarian organisation called for sustained financial support from federal and state governments, international donors and humanitarian partners to expand treatment services and improve access to therapeutic food.
It warned that without continued investment, many vulnerable children would remain exposed to life-threatening malnutrition despite the reduction in admissions recorded at its Katsina facilities.
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