Zainab Abdul, 26 years old, on January 29 (IPS), January 29 (IPS) -Abdul on January 29, 20124, saw a two-year-old daughter fighting pale and weight loss and diarrhea. She was not surprised. Her family lived in a refugee camp with a limited access to food because the bandits with the jihad were forced to make them in a village in Kadaba, a Zampara in northwestern Nigeria.
Abdul’s fear was confirmed in a center run by a doctor without borders/médecins sans frontières (MSF), where the baby is suffering from acute nutrition.
“I received Rutf (Rediped Therapeutic Food), which helped her a lot. She felt slogan while giving injections, medicine and milk. As you can see, she is gradually recovering from before. ”Abdul told IPS.
Abdul’s baby survived malnutrition, but many others are not lucky. Nigeria is in a serious malnutrition crisis in the northern regions, especially in the northern regions, where poverty, food anxiety, inappropriate medical care and rapid costs are widely used. This country has the highest growth rate in the world, and 32 %of those with less than five people are affected.
According to UNICEF, malnutrition is mainly affected by 2 million children in Nigeria, mainly in the north, and about 2,400 children of less than 5 people die each day.
I was hidden by violence
Experts say that anxiety is the main cause of malnutrition in northern Nigeria. In the northwest, armed groups drive farmers out of the ground, closing the market, and driving the community. Due to this violence, more than 2.2 million people run away, and many people live in a overcrowded camp with little resources.
Conflicts in the northeastern part interfere with agriculture and food production. Families who return to their land are afraid of farming far from the military city, and there is a risk of hunger.
The lack of food is so bad that some families should eat cassava peel for survival.
“We are suffering greatly. We didn’t eat food to eat and we haven’t been farming for more than four years. We have no appropriate evacuation. When I talked to you now, I didn’t eat anything. Hannatu Ismail, a resident of refugee camps in Zamfara, said.
Aminu Balarabe, a middle -aged doctor in GUSAU, the capital of ZAMFARA, is concerned that the results can be miserable if the problem is not solved immediately. The government has started several military campaigns to eradicate bandits and encourage people to return to the farm, but Bala Labe thinks more needs.
He mourned that continuous anxiety has already promoted medical services, making it difficult to effectively diagnose and treat malnutrition in this area.
“The solution is to solve anxiety. Most people on the ground are not protected and vulnerable. They are constantly in danger. If the government enters, provides practical support, and takes strong measures to bring peace to the community, the situation can be better. In order to fight this anxiety, the government must act urgently and decisively. It is heartbreaking that some people cannot live in their own villages or villages due to anxiety. They have to live and sleep in the camp, ”Bala Labe said.
Humanitarian crisis
Over the years, organizations such as ICRC, UNICEF and MSF have raised alarms on worsening malnutrition crisis and emphasized urgent needs for more humanitarian aid. They repeatedly demanded Nigerian authorities, organizations and donors to take immediate measures to solve the root cause of the crisis.
In 2024, MSF provided treatment to more than 294,000 malnutrition children in northern Nigeria. The original organization said that due to the overcrowded state, the lack of space was treated for mattresses on the floor.
In mid -2012, ICRC reported that 48 % of serious malnutrition cases with complications among less than 5 children of children compared to the previous year.
As the funds have been reduced, it is more difficult for the organization to take care of malnutrition children. The lack of treatment food continued and worsened. Despite the increase in acute nutrition from all over the world, the UN’s humanitarian response plan still does not include the northwestern region of Nigeria.
Oluwagbemisola Olukogbe, a nutritionist in Lagos, Nigeria, is concerned that malnutrition can seriously affect children’s growth, human development and economic development, which can create a cycle that regains society.
“Chronic malnutrition and disciplinary growth in childhood can lead to poor brain development, leading to difficulties and behavioral problems. This affects education, lowers adult productivity, and increases the risk of the problem to be delivered to the next generation. ”
Failed solution
In 2020, the Nigerian government focused on strengthening food production through agricultural investment by introducing a national multilingual behavior plan for food and nutrition in 2021-2025 to solve food security and malnutrition. But Ibadan University’s reader IDRIS Olabode Badiru emphasizes that government investment in agriculture is insufficient.
Agriculture accounts for 24 % of Nigeria GDP and employs more than 30 % of the total labor force, but the funds are much lower than the 10 % target set by the African Union in the 2003 Maputo Declaration.
Badiru says that this shortage of investment inhibits productivity and cannot solve food anxiety and cannot solve food anxiety.
“Even if farmers in a crisis area can’t work in the field, the neighboring areas can still contribute to food production. These farmers should be supported to increase production through measures such as training programs provided by effective agricultural expansion services. Unfortunately, many main extensions do not work well and need to be improved to better support farmers, ”Badiru said.
He added: “Previous attempts were disturbed by fraud, but it is also important to provide farmers with the necessary tools and financial support. To solve this, you need to establish a better responsibility system. Moreover, agriculture should not be treated as isolated because it varies depending on the other sector. Restoration of essential infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, storage facilities and electricity supply, is essential to improve agricultural productivity and solve long -term problems. ”
In particular, the government’s efforts to distribute free grains to vulnerable populations in areas that were influenced by disputes and suffered economically were very lacking. These initiatives are damaged by a wide range of corruption and resources, which is not helpful for the most needed people.
A desolate future?
Save The Children International said that by April 2025, a million children in Nigeria would suffer from acute malnutrition by April 2025.
UNICEF urged the government to strengthen its nutrition programs and strengthen its primary medical services, and in 2025, 200,000 additional children in the northwest needed treatment foods.
In Zamfara’s refugee camp, Abdul cannot negotiate the government aid.
“We need the government’s support for food. I can’t think of how much pain these children suffered from hunger. Most days, they eat only once in the morning and go without food until the next day or sometimes late at night. Our children are so tired that we cry with hunger to continue, and we hurt our hearts because we have nothing to give to them. ”
memo: This article provides IPS NORAM in cooperation with ECOSOC in cooperation with INPS JAPAN and Soka Gakkai International.
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