Nigeria: Worry Over Worsening Malnutrition in North-East As CERF Launches $10m Relief Package

21 September 2022
Vanguard (Lagos)
By Chioma Obinna

As Nigerians in the North East battle with the devastating food and nutrition crisis, the Central Emergency Response Fund, CERF, has released a US$10 million allocation to help save lives and get urgent aid to those who need it most.

Approximately 1.74 million children under the age of five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition across the north-east in 2022.

With a 34 per cent increase so far from last year the north-east recorded the highest burden of acute malnutrition since 2016, and, over 300,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition.

The consequences of inaction are a matter of life and death. If immediate action is not taken, more than five thousand children are expected to die. Those who survive will potentially face lifelong disabilities. Malnutrition puts children at greater risk of dying from common infections, increases the frequency and severity of such infections, delays recovery and causes development stagnation.

This CERF allocation will enable accelerated action to increase treatment capacity and early identification of acute malnutrition. The funding will be used for integrated prevention and treatment, including proven local solutions to improve availability, affordability and/or accessibility to nutritious foods that protect women and children from repeated episodes of acute malnutrition.

In May 2022 CERF allocated $15 million to support the catastrophic food insecurity and nutrition response. In September, the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF) provided two allocations of $2.5 million and $1 million to enable humanitarian actors to provide urgent nutrition support in line with the interagency US$ 351 million multisector plan to address the desperate food and nutrition situation.

These funds are being disbursed in the midst of an alarming lean season in which 4.1 million people across the north-east are facing the pain of hunger according to the Cadre Harmonisé food security and nutrition assessment.

Despite these efforts, there remains a massive funding gap. The Nutrition Sector has a lean season funding gap of $39 million, or 57 per cent.

According to Mr. Matthias Schmale, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, "We urgently need to close the funding gap to rapidly scale-up the response and implement immediate life-saving measures.

For the thousands of children trying to survive, additional funding is needed today, not tomorrow."

Read the original article on Vanguard.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2022 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.