Lara Adejoro The Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders has raised concern over the rising number of malnourished children in the northern part of the country, pointing out that they are dying in their numbers. MSF said its inpatient facilities have recorded an extraordinary increase in admissions of severely malnourished children with life-threatening complications in recent weeks, exceeding last year’s figures by over 100 per cent in some locations. It noted that this is an alarming indication of a premature peak of the lean season and the increase in acute malnutrition that accompanies it, typically anticipated in July.
The humanitarian non-governmental organisation made this known in a press statement released on Tuesday. “We are resorting to treating patients on mattresses on the floor because our facilities are full. Children are dying.
If immediate action is not taken, more lives hang in the balance. Everyone needs to step in to save lives and allow the children of northern Nigeria to grow free from malnutrition and its disastrous long-term if not fatal, consequences,” said the MSF’s Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Simba Tirima. The organisation, however, called on the Nigerian authorities, international organisations, and donors to take immediate action to diagnose and treat malnourished children to prevent associated complications and deaths and engage in sustained, long-term initiatives to mitigate the underlying causes of .
