Save the Children International and partner organisations have raised alarm over a looming public health crisis in Adamawa, Borno, Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, warning that “over 96,000 children” could die from acute malnutrition between October and December 2025 if lifesaving interventions are not urgently deployed.
The report also notes that more than 800,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are at risk, with the Country Director, Duncan Harvey, stressing that “Nigeria is facing a nationwide emergency” as food insecurity deepens. Experts and community leaders link the crisis to insecurity, high living costs, failed economic policies, and the inability of farmers to access their fields, urging government to “take the war to the bandits,” expand food assistance, supply nutrition supplements, and create an enabling environment for farming. They insist that “no child should die from any preventable cause such as hunger, malnutrition or illness,” warning that the crisis could easily spread beyond the six highlighted states.