At least 652 children have died from malnutrition in the Nigerian state of Katsina in the first six months of 2025, according to Doctors Without Borders.
The charity, known by its French initials MSF, said in a statement on Friday that the deaths were caused by funding cuts from international donors, as Katsina, located in the country’s north, continued to suffer from violence and insecurity.
“We are currently witnessing massive budget cuts, particularly from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, which are having real impact on the treatment of malnourished children,” said MSF.
The NGO said by the end of June this year, nearly 70,000 children with malnutrition had already received medical care from the MSF teams in Katsina State, including nearly 10,000 who were hospitalised in serious condition.
It, however, stressed that the need for prevention and treatment of malnutrition is enormous in northern Nigeria, and that urgent mobilisation was required.
In the north of Nigeria, other factors increasing malnutrition include disease outbreaks, which are pushed by low vaccine coverage, availability, and accessibility of basic health services, and other socioeconomic indices complicated by insecurity and violence.
MSF said the number of children in Katsina with the most severe form of malnutrition has risen by about 208 percent this year compared with the same period last year, and “unfortunately 652 children have already died in our facilities since the beginning of 2025.”
Banditry is rife in Katsina, where insecurity has displaced many people, forcing them to abandon their farms. The government, alongside local civilian vigilante groups, has struggled to contain the activities of bandits.
WFP freezes aid
On Wednesday, the United Nations food agency said it will be forced to suspend food and nutrition aid for 1.3 million people in Nigeria’s conflict-hit northeast by the end of July, because stocks had run out due to “critical funding shortfalls”.
The World Food Programme’s (WFP) regional head, Margot van der Velden, said “we will face the heartbreaking reality of having to suspend humanitarian aid for the populations in areas devastated by conflict.”
That means more than 1.3 million people in Nigeria will lose access to food and nutritional support, 150 nutrition clinics in the conflict-ridden Borno State in the northeast may close, 300,000 children will be at risk of severe malnutrition, and 700,000 displaced people “will be left with no means of survival”, she said.
For years, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had been the backbone of the humanitarian response in northeastern Nigeria, helping nongovernmental organisations provide food, shelter and healthcare to millions of people.
The Trump administration has slashed foreign assistance and dismantled USAID, accusing the agency of waste and fraud and supporting a liberal agenda. Other Western donors also have slashed international aid spending.
Nigeria has budgeted 200 billion naira ($130m) this year to cushion the shortfall from the withdrawal of funding to the health sector by the US.
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