One million more Nigerian children will experience malnutrition in 2025, says Save the Children

Save the Children International (SCI), the charity organisation, says an additional one million children in Nigeria will experience acute malnutrition by April 2025 without urgent action.

In a statement on Tuesday, the SCI said extreme flooding, escalating violence, and rampant food shortages fuel a deepening hunger crisis in the country.

The charity organisation said analysis of new hunger data showed that 5.4 million children are now at risk of acute malnutrition by next April, a 25 percent increase compared to the 4.4 percent this April.

“Among them, about 1.8 million could be experiencing severe acute malnutrition (SAM)—the deadliest form of malnutrition that compromises children’s immune systems and turns otherwise treatable illnesses, such as diarrhoea, potentially lethal. This represents an alarming 80 percent increase in SAM cases,” the statement reads.

“During this year’s lean season—the season between harvests—about 31.8 million people were estimated to be facing crisis or worse, acute food insecurity. Next year it’s predicted that 33 million people in Nigeria will not know where their next meal will come from, including over 16 million children.

“Hunger has risen sharply in Nigeria in recent years, up from about seven percent of the population analysed by the UN in 2020 to 15 percent currently.

“The situation is particularly dire in the northwest and northeast of the country, where ongoing conflict and insecurity are driving displacement and disrupting livelihoods.

“With a population of about 230 million, Nigeria is highly vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis.

“Expanding desertification is consuming farmland and limiting communities’ ability to grow food.

“This year the country has faced its worst floods in 30 years, killing over 300 people and forcing 1.2 million people from their homes.”

Duncan Harvey, the country director of SCI, said the crisis is reaching unprecedented levels in Nigeria, noting that catastrophic climate disasters, escalating insecurity, and soaring prices threaten to leave over 16 million children hungry.

“Urgent action is essential to combat this devastating and unacceptable trend of child hunger and malnutrition and ensure a brighter future for Nigeria’s children,” Harvey said.