With 652 children recorded dead between January to June, 2025 due to lack of “timely access to care”, there are growing concerns over the surge of malnutrition in Katsina State, writes Francis Sardauna
Katsina State is currently facing a severe malnutrition crisis, particularly affecting children under five, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers across the 10 frontline local government areas of the state.
This crisis is characterized by high rates of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and oedema in banditry-ravaged Local Government Areas of Jibia, Batsari, Kankara, Sabuwa, Safana, Danmusa and Faskari.
Some children within the frontline local governments of Dutsinma, Kafur and Kurfi are experiencing moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) orchestrated by the nefarious activities of the marauding bandits.
Factors Triggering Malnutrition in the state
The crisis is exacerbated in the state by numerous factors such as insecurity, resale of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) by caregivers, food insecurity, limited access to healthcare, displacement of rural dwellers and inadequate nutrition services.
The ongoing lean season is further intensifying the malnutrition crisis in Kaita and Mashi local governments as food stocks dwindle, with households struggling to meet basic needs and facing increased malnutrition risks across the 10 local governments.
Investigation further revealed that thousands of households across the 34 local government areas of the state had reduced the number of meals they ate each day during this lean season (June to August).
A visit to one of the CMAM centres in Katsina metropolis, revealed that hundreds of mothers, who brought their malnourished children, were seen being attended to by health officials at the centre.
Investigation further showed that the facility was recording an average of 50 to 60 children being brought to the centre weekly during this lean season with symptoms of acute malnutrition.
Mrs. Zainab Kamaladeen, a nursing mother who was seen at the centre with her four-year-old child, Ibrahim, said her son could not eat nor drink water but faces periodic defecation.
Ibrahim, like other infants, is being treated for severe acute malnutrition at the centre on a weekly basis. “The government is treating our malnourished children free in this hospital”, his mother said.
Although Ibrahim and other children are mostly affected by the public health crisis in the state, women, including pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are also battling with severe acute malnutrition.
For instance, a screening carried out in July by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on 750 mothers of malnourished children across its five treatment centres, revealed that half of the caregivers were acutely malnourished, with 13 per cent suffering from SAM.
652 Children Died of Malnutrition in the state —MSF
In their recent report, the MSF further unraveled a stark reality of malnutrition crisis amongst children and adults in the state, revealing that 652 children died in its facilities between January to June, 2025 due to lack of “timely access to care.”
The humanitarian organisation said the number of malnourished children with nutritional oedema, the most severe and deadly form of malnutrition, increased by 208 per cent within the period under review in the state.
In June this year, the organisation said 70,000 malnourished children had received medical care from its team in the state, including nearly 10,000 who were hospitalized in serious condition.
“Without taking into account the new healthcare facilities opened by MSF during the year in the state, this represents an increase of approximately one-third compared to last year.
“In addition, between January and June 2025, the number of malnourished children with nutritional oedema, the most severe and deadly form of malnutrition, rose by 208 percent compared with the same period in 2024.
“Unfortunately, 652 children have already died in our facilities since the beginning of 2025 due to a lack of timely access to care”, the MFS report added.
Similarly, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently disclosed that 75.5 per cent of Katsina children are multidimensionally poor and lack access to health and nutrition.
At a media dialogue on Child-sensitive Budgeting in Katsina, the Chief of UNICEF Field Office Kano, Rahama Mohammed Farah, said 51.3 per cent of children under five were stunted, indicating chronic malnutrition with long-term consequences.
He said one in six children in Katsina State (159 per 1,000 live births) die before celebrating their 5th birthday — a stark reminder of the urgent need to strengthen the state’s child survival interventions.
Interventions by MSF, Katsina Government and UNICEF
In response to the deepening emergency, the MSF, which has been working in Katsina state since 2021, said it has commenced the distribution of nutritional supplements to 66,000 children in Mashi Local Government Area of the state.
It has also announced the opening of a new ambulatory therapeutic feeding center (AFTC) in Mashi and inpatient therapeutic feeding center (ITFC) in Turai, to provide 900 beds in two of its supported hospitals.
Also, the state government in collaboration with UNICEF, has procured and distributed 7,000 cartons of ready-to-use therapeutic food and other supplementary food worth N400 million to tackle severe acute malnutrition in the state.
The RUTF, which was procured through Child Nutrition Match Fund, primarily aimed at providing life-saving assistance to over 8,000 malnourished children below the age of five across the state.
The state Commissioner for Health, Musa Adamu-Funtua, who confirmed this to newsmen, further announced the state government’s intervention of N500 million this year to curb the spate of malnutrition.
Adamu-Funtua, who rejected the MSF report of 652 deaths of children in the state, expressed the government’s commitment in tackling malnutrition and other health challenges bedeviling children and women in the state.
In the midst of this health catastrophe, the commissioner said: “It’s not true. We don’t know where they (MSF) got their report. I have invited them to come and explain to us how and where they got it.”
Trading of RUTF Poses More Danger
But despite increased procurement of the ready-to-use therapeutic food by the state government and partners, many children in the state who are suffering from severe malnutrition still don’t have access to it.
It is, however, seen on display for sale in some provision shops, on the streets, and even hawked from house to house in some border communities in Jibia, Kaita, Mashi, Mai’Adua and even Katsina metropolitan area.
Investigation revealed that perpetrators of this illegal business usually convince their retailers and hawkers of the danger of disclosing their sources of supply.
It is also discovered that even in remote villages where the food supplement is sold, retailers, who are mostly housewives and adolescent girls, are fully aware of what the RUTF is and what it is meant for.
They know it is an illegal business; and therefore, hardly disclose their sources of supply in spite of all the efforts put in place by government and other relevant stakeholders to halt the resale of the food supplement.
Sadly, some mothers also starve their children until they are malnourished so as to get their hands on therapeutic food, which they then sell on for personal profit.
But the illegal diversion and trading of this vitamin-enriched and energy-boosting food supplement poses more health burdens in the state than the economic benefits. Therefore, it must be prevented by relevant authorities.
Amid growing concerns over a surge in malnutrition cases in the state, international aid organisations like the Médecins Sans Frontières and UNICEF are raising the alarms, citing funding cuts and insecurity as contributing factors to the crisis.
The organisations said the malnutrition crisis will be worsened in Katsina and other states in the north due to the cuts to international funding, with major donors, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, reducing funding.
Strategies for Combating Child Malnutrition
This underscores the urgent need for the Katsina state government under the leadership of Governor Dikko Umaru Radda to adopt revolving measures to end the malnutrition crisis in the state.
According to stakeholders, the Radda-led government should strengthen food systems and access to nutritious food by encouraging smallholder farmers to increase production of diverse, nutrient-rich foods, with a focus on women empowerment.
While prioritising the well-being of children, they tasked the government to ensure timely release of nutrition funds and increased budgetary allocations for children; invest in social protection programmes by providing cash or food transfers to vulnerable families, ensuring access to nutritious food, especially for children; and encourage and support mothers to breastfeed their babies exclusively for the first six months of life, and educate families on appropriate complementary feedings.
Essentially, addressing underlying factors like banditry, poverty, inequality, trading of RUTF and lack of access to clean water and sanitation, as well as strengthening of healthcare systems is crucial in tackling the malnutrition crisis in the state.
Quote
The crisis is exacerbated in the state by numerous factors such as insecurity, resale of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) by caregivers, food insecurity, limited access to healthcare, displacement of rural dwellers and inadequate nutrition services….
Leave a comment