Attachments
Strategic Summary
In 2024, Northeast Nigerian states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) experienced the worst nutrition crisis in the 15-years of a protracted conflict and socio-economic deprivation perpetuated by jihadist groups. According to the IPC Acute Malnutrition Analysis, the nutrition situation is projected to deteriorate even further in 2025 compared to 2024. Approximately 2.6 million children under 5 years across the BAY states will be acutely malnourished in 2025 (representing a 67% increase compared to 2024), including 1 million who will likely be severely malnourished and majority of them during the lean season.
The poor nutrition situation is exacerbated by the severe food and economic crises (with a 14% projected increase in food insecure people from 2024 to 2025), soaring food prices, limited access to farmlands due to insecurity and farmer-herder conflicts, impact of extreme weather events (e.g., flooding that displaced nearly 500,000 people), cholera outbreaks, lack of access to basic health, clean drinking water and sanitation services (e.g., only two fifth of the households access improved sanitation facilities), and suboptimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices (only one fifth of the children aged 6-23 months consume a minimum acceptable diet). Additionally, the depreciation of the naira, rising fuel prices, and heightened inflation have negatively impacted trade, purchasing power, and economic activities across the BAY states.
In 2025, at least 17 of the 62 accessible local government areas (LGAs) across the BAY states are projected to likely be in a critical nutrition situation (IPC Acute Malnutrition Phase 4; GAM 15.0-29.9%) during the post-harvest season (normally season of low acute malnutrition). The 17 LGAs include Maiduguri, Jere, Damboa, Gubio, Kaga, Konduga, Mafa, Magumari, Marte, Monguno, Nganzai and Mobbar in Borno, and Karasuwa, Machina, Nguru, Yunusari and Yusufari in Yobe.
Absence of sustained humanitarian nutrition assistance could potentially reverse the recent years of progress pertaining to nutrition related targets including a surge in severe acute malnutrition cases with comorbidities (particularly acute watery diarrhea and measles) that will likely exacerbate the excess mortality risk. Consequently, an estimated 277,000 severely malnourished children will be 11 times more at risk of death between May and September 2025 including at least 28,000 malnourished children that will face imminent death from comorbidities. In 2024, a surge in cases of acute malnutrition overstretched both the nutrition pipeline and a severely underfunded healthcare system, depleting nutrition and medical supplies.
In absence of preparedness, anticipatory and lean season response actions outlined in this ERP plan, it is expected that the admission in treatment programs will rapidly increase to the point of overwhelming the existing capacities of health facilities supported by partners and government. The ERP plan also aims to ensure prepositioning of supplies in the field ahead of the rainy season while strengthening preparedness and anticipatory actions.
In 2025, the nutrition sector requires at least US$ 42.5 million to sustain lifesaving nutrition services through the increasingly early and prolonged lean seasons, of which US$ 14.7 million is needed immediately to a prevent an imminent pipeline break and support operational costs of implementing partners, and US$ 3 million will be needed between Jan and April 2025 to support preparedness and anticipatory actions.