Nigeria: Increased malnutrition crisis for children and the mental health strain for caregivers

25 August 2026 - Nigeria continues to face a severe malnutrition crisis. In 2025, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams treated 425,634 children for acute malnutrition across northern Nigeria—a 41.8% increase compared to 2024. This increase can be attributed to a combination of factors, including worsening insecurity and displacement, heightened food insecurity, disease outbreaks, reductions in humanitarian funding, and the broader economic crisis, all of which have contributed to increased vulnerability and malnutrition among children. The crisis remains critical in 2026, with an estimated 34.7 million people facing crisis levels of food insecurity during the lean season and over 5.4 million children suffering from acute malnutrition. ​ (FAO, 16/02/2026)

MSF currently runs nutrition projects in seven states across northern Nigeria, including Bauchi, Borno, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara. MSF activities focus on prevention and treatment services for people – mostly children- with malnutrition. Beyond medical treatment, MSF integrates mental health and psychosocial support for children and their caregivers, recognizing that the emotional impact of severe childhood malnutrition can affect treatment adherence, caregiving capacity and recovery.

Caregivers—relatives, mostly mothers—usually accompany children during hospital admissions for severe acute malnutrition, which often stretches for long days. Some stay between 7 and 45 days, depending on the severity of their condition. ​ Many caregivers arrive with children in critical condition while having to leave other children at home, placing them under immense emotional strain. They often experience fear, anxiety, guilt, and despair, and some develop symptoms of depression. While they care for their children, they themselves are often in need of psychological support.

The mental health support MSF provides includes play therapy for children, counselling, and caregiver education to help families understand and manage the emotional and behavioural challenges that may arise during and after treatment.

The stories of caregivers – often mothers of the children – rarely get told. Yet their emotional wellbeing is tested by weeks of anxiety from their child’s condition, uncertainty, separation from their families, and the fear of losing a child.

Fatima Ibrahim’s 23-month-old daughter, Aisha, was admitted to the Nilefa Kiji nutrition facility in Maiduguri after battling meningitis and repeated convulsions. The three weeks spent in hospital were filled with conflicting emotions. While grateful to see her daughter improve, Fatima could not stop thinking about the eight children she had left at home. ​

“I am worried about my children," she said. “There is no one to take care of my children. Their father is away and they do not have anything to eat or drink.”

One day, she learned that one of them had developed a fever but there was no money for treatment. “I cried and could not eat,” she said. “Even this morning, I could not eat until the afternoon.” ​

Another mother, Halima Mohammed, experienced a different kind of strain after spending 45 days moving between hospitals with two sick children. ​

“I was having good sleep before my children fell ill,” she says. “Now I barely sleep. For the past two days, I have not been feeling well myself. I pleaded for my daughter’s discharge, and I assured them that I was not running away; that my daughter is now better, but they advised against self-discharge as my daughter was not yet in a stable condition.”

Latifat Abdulkareem faced another painful dilemma when her eldest son visited the hospital during her daughter's admission. “He asked me when I was coming home,” she said. “He said they were hungry since I wasn't around.”

Helping several caregivers whose children have been admitted for malnutrition, Kethurah John, an MSF counsellor educator, says that the condition of their children at home leaves caregivers with two difficult choices, and that sometimes their husbands do not help the situation. ​

“A woman once told us that her husband called her and told her that he is tired of taking care of the children, so he left the children with the neighbours,” says Kethurah. “She could not cope staying in the hospital. She had six children. She had to leave, not because she wanted to, but because she feels this is just one child. And every day when she is given food, she cries because she is thinking of her children, maybe they can’t get that.” For Mariya Mukhtar, nine days after arriving at an MSF facility in Kano with her severely-ill daughter, the hospital had become a place of reassurance. Her daughter had arrived with a severe fever, vomiting, and loose stool after several unsuccessful visits to other health facilities. Mariya feared she might not survive. ​

After some time, she began seeing a dramatic change. Her daughter could now sit up, play, recognise her and talk — things she could not do when they arrived. ​ “I am in no rush to leave,” says Mariya, because she can see real improvement every day. She now feels at ease, knowing her daughter is receiving care.

These stories reveal an often-overlooked consequence of malnutrition. While medical statistics capture admissions and recovery rates, they cannot measure the emotional burden people carry while trying to support their sick children.

To address these challenges, MSF integrates mental health and psychosocial support into our malnutrition programmes in Nilefa Kiji nutrition facility. Caregivers receive psychological first aid on arrival, followed by individual counselling and group sessions where they can share experiences, express their fears, and learn coping strategies. Children also participate in structured play activities that help restore a sense of normalcy during recovery.

The support extends beyond counselling. When caregivers become distressed after losing contact with relatives, counsellors help them reach family members by phone. In some cases, supervised home visits are arranged so caregivers can briefly check on their families before returning to complete their child's treatment.

Kethurah says many caregivers gradually regain hope as they witness their children's recovery. Some even return after discharge simply to show how healthy their children have become. "For us, those moments remind us that caring for the caregiver is also part of caring for the child,” she says.

ENDS