At least 300,000 malnourished children in northeastern Nigeria could lose access to lifesaving treatment as funding for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) dries up.
The UN agency has warned that over 150 WFP-supported nutrition clinics in Borno and Yobe states are set to close due to severe funding shortfalls.
According to WFP, children will be among the hardest hit, with the closures potentially halting critical treatment for more than 300,000 children under the age of two, placing them at heightened risk of wasting.
Among them: two-year-old Ummi, cradled in her mother’s lap one recent day, at a Borno State health clinic. A MUAC strip wrapped around her wrist shows the youngster has moderate-acute malnutrition. Later, mother Hafsat Rumanu collects packages of nutrient-packed peanut paste to help fight it.
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“When I noticed my baby vomiting, I took her to the health centre. Already, I am seeing changes. She is getting better”, says 25-year-old Rumanu, who has three other small children.
Earlier this year, WFP in a statement on Wednesday said food and nutrition support reached 1.3 million people in northern Nigeria.
With donations drying up, WFP is beginning to cut food and nutrition assistance to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people across northeastern Nigeria, even as hunger soars in the region, fuelled by conflict, insecurity and extreme weather. Children are likely to be among those worst affected.
“Without an immediate influx in donations, only half that number will be assisted in August. After that, our assistance in the region could be completely suspended”, John Ifuk-Ibot, WFP Nigeria Nutrition Officer said.
“Families here will be left with impossible choices. Go hungry or flee again”, he added.
David Stevenson, WFP Country Director for Nigeria said, “WFP’s operations in northeast Nigeria will collapse without immediate, sustained funding. This is no longer just a humanitarian crisis, it’s a growing threat to regional stability, as families pushed beyond their limits are left with nowhere to turn.”
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Of the 31 million people across Nigeria facing severe food insecurity, nearly five million live in three northeastern states – where some 2.3 million people are displaced by longstanding conflict.
