The United Nations has allocated US$20 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF) to urgently ramp up the humanitarian response to the worsening food security and nutrition crisis in north-east Nigeria.
According to a statement, the latest allocation is in support of government efforts, noting that some $9 million in CERF funding and a complementary $11 million NHF allocation will go towards a coordinated multisectoral response aimed at preventing a deterioration to famine or famine-like conditions.
The statement said almost 700,000 children under five are likely to suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) states in 2023, more than double the number of SAM cases in 2022 and four times the number of cases in 2021.
It added that more than half a million people in the BAY states are also projected to face emergency levels of food insecurity – one step away from famine, from June to August which is the peak of the lean season, according to the March 2023 Cadre Harmonise analysis.
It further added that the lean season also coincides with the rainy season, when the incidence of acute watery diarrhoea, cholera, malaria and other diseases increases, aggravating the precarious situation of malnourished children.
