MSF laments additional health complications of children suffering from malnutrition in Bauchi

• Asks govt to invest more on tackling malnutrition 

By Hassan Ibrahim

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has decried the prevalence of malaria and respiratory tract infections on children suffering from malnutrition which hindered treatment of the scourge in Bauchi State.

MSF attributed the trend to late presentation of children suffering from malnutrition to hospital by parents in Bauchi State saying,, "One of the challenges we face is late presentation to the hospital, and most children admitted in our facility have additional complications alongside malnutrition, such as kwashiorkor with skin lesions or respiratory tract infections and malaria, which makes it harder to treat malnutrition."

MSF Head of Mission, Adam Ousmane Ngari, who disclosed this during a farewell ceremony held Thursday in Bauchi said, "What we are seeing is really alarming, the increase in terms of bed capacity from 72 we move to 100 and up to 250 bed to contained the spread. It is really alarming with the data that we have and the evidence that are coming from our hospital. First hand data and fresh data coming from our team, the situation is really alarming."

Ngari explained, "In Bauchi state, we operate a 250-bed inpatient feeding centre in Kafin Madaki in Ganjuwa Local Government Area. Here, we provide medical care to children suffering from malnutrition. During peak times, we increase our bed capacity to 350. We’ve erected additional tents in the hospital to accommodate the overflow of malnourished children."  

Ngari said, "We run three outpatient activities in Kafin Madaki, Kafin Liman, and Miya primary healthcare centres, with outreach activities in Miya ward, which has 8 ICCM villages. The Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) approach trains and supports community health workers (CHWs) to diagnose and treat common childhood illnesses like malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhoea at the community level." 

"This strategy aims to improve access to healthcare for vulnerable populations in remote areas by bringing essential services closer to home. 

From January to April this year (2025), we’ve attended to 27,868 children suffering from malnutrition, representing a 34.5% increase from the 20,721 children seen in the same period in 2024.

"Admissions for hospitalisation, however, have decreased by 4.8% compared to the same period in 2024 (4598 compared to 4832 ITFC admissions). This could be attributed to the effect of ICCM activities," he said.

Ngari noted that the state government needs to invest more in tackling malnutrition particularly with the dwindling changing monetary landscape especially the USAID freeze fund, adding that the situation may be would be worst in 2026.