MSF treats 87,000 malnourished children in Katsina State
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Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) treated 87,000 children for acute malnutrition in Katsina State, Nigeria, between January and August 2026.
The international organisation noted this number, while slightly lower than the 95,000 children treated during the same period in 2025, remains concerningly high. Approximately 15,500 children needed hospitalisation for severe malnutrition this year, a decrease from around 16,500 the year before.
MSF operates its largest nutrition program in Katsina, where they have established a specialized unit to treat children with kwashiorkor, a severe form of malnutrition difficult for caregivers to identify. Badiyya Shafi’u, a mother whose child received treatment, explained she initially did not recognize the condition but saw improvement after her child began receiving care, regaining the ability to sit and stand. MSF linked the ongoing malnutrition crisis to poverty, inflation, insecurity, displacement, disease, and extreme weather.
However, they observed some improvement due to increased security and better harvests in Katsina, allowing displaced residents to return home and resume farming. The Katsina State Government committed 1 billion Naira to combat malnutrition, doubling its previous investment, and UNICEF pledged a similar amount. Despite this, MSF warned that funding cuts from countries like the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, combined with limited access to therapeutic food, continue to hinder treatment efforts.
