Famine fears in northeast Nigeria as Boko Haram fight rages
Research snapshot1
A recent report in The Lancet describes the situation in northeast Nigeria where, amid continued fighting, over five million people are now going hungry. The prevalence of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in July 2016 in internally displaced people (IDP) in one area was 20%, which is five times the emergency threshold. Rapid field screenings of children found levels as high as 40%. UNICEF has warned that 75,000 children could face starvation this year without aid. Although food distributions have scaled up substantially, 400,000 to 800,000 people remain cut off from help. Even in accessible areas, millions are expected to face severe food shortages this year, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET), due to disruptions from the conflict, which have stopped farmers planting crops, displaced large populations, cut off transport, disrupted markets and driven the cost of staple food out of many people’s reach. Analysts expect high rates of malnutrition and mortality among these populations as well as a high probability of outbreaks of diseases such as measles, meningitis, diphtheria and pertussis.
The Nigerian Government has denied the severity of the hunger crisis. It has also been difficult to get donor countries to fund relief efforts. Last year, the United Nations (UN) received only about half of its US$480 million appeal for the region. “It took some time to convince the donors that the Nigerian Government could not handle it on their own”, said Toby Lanzer, the UN’s Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel. The food crisis has in fact been going on for several years, but little aid was provided until recently because areas have been largely cut off due to military operations. This meant that humanitarian agencies did not fully understand the scale of the problem and even when they began to, they still could not access most of the affected areas. “There has been a real lack of political will to acknowledge the scale of the problem,” said Natalie Roberts, who managed the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) emergency operations in the region. “It is very easy now for everybody to scale up their aid and pretend that nothing happened before.”
Footnotes
1Loewenberg S. (2017) World report: Famine fears in northeast Nigeria as Boko Haram fight rages. The Lancet, Vol. 389, January 28, 2017.
More like this
Blog post: Evidence, Analysis, and the Politics of Declaring Famine
Dan is the Henry J. Leir Professor in Food Security and Research Director at the Feinstein International Center and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts...
FEX: Post-Rome integrated action: Experiences from North-eastern Nigeria
By Kirathi Reuel Mungai and Adeola Goriola Makanjuola View this article as a pdf Lisez cet article en français ici Kirathi Reuel Mungai is a nutrition specialist...
FEX: Multiple crises overwhelm emergency food relief agencies
Summary of published article1 Location: Global What we know: The world is facing its largest refugee crisis since World War 2. Inadequate funding is significantly...
FEX: Promoting an integrated famine prevention package: Breaking bottlenecks
Summary of the report of the global Food Security and Nutrition Cluster meeting, 26 April 2017 at World Food Programme HQ, Rome The global Food Security Cluster (FSC) and...
FEX: Simplified approaches to treat acute malnutrition: Insights and reflections from MSF and lessons from experiences in NE Nigeria
View this article as a pdf Lisez cet article en français ici By Kerstin Hanson Kerstin Hanson has a background in paediatrics and public health. She most recently...
FEX: International Legal Consequences of the Conflict in Syria
By Natasha Harrington Natasha is a barrister (a member of the English Bar). She is currently working in Eversheds law firms' public international law and international...
FEX: Experiences of implementing CMAM in Yemen and number of deaths averted
By Najwa Al-Dheeb, Anna Ziolkovska and Stanley Chitekwe View this article as a pdf Lisez cet article en français ici Najwa Al-Dheeb is the Health and Nutrition...
FEX: One hundred years of famine – a pause for reflection
Dublin '99 This piece was written by Fiona Watson, Institute of Child Health - NutritionWorks with contributions from the editors As the millennium draws to a close, memories...
FEX: The 2011 famine in Somalia: lessons learnt from a failed response
Summary of published research1 Location: Somalia What we know: In July 2011, a famine was declared in Southern Somalia despite sufficient, timely and robust early warnings....
FEX: Valid International
In late June this year, ENN interviewed Kate Sadler, Director of Programmes at Valid International (VI), and followed up by speaking to Steve Collins, one of the founders of VI...
FEX: Learning from the Porridge Mums project in northeast Nigeria
By Ellyn Yakowenko and Silke Pietzsch View this article as a pdf Lisez cet article en français ici Ellyn Yakowenko is the Associate Director of Research at Action...
FEX: The Eleanor Crook Foundation
Name: The Eleanor Crook Foundation Address: Suite 1110, 150 Fayetteville Street Raleigh, NC 27601 Tel: (512) 609-0694 Email: info@eleanorcrookfoundation.org No of staff...
NEX: SUN and the private sector: Business networks in Nigeria and Niger
Ambarka Youssoufane is ENN's West and Central Africa Knowledge Management Specialist. He observed and summarised the Business Network meetings in Nigeria and...
FEX: A review of the humanitarian nutrition response in North-East Nigeria
View this article as a pdf Lisez cet article en français ici By Alison Donnelly, Joanne Chui and Arja Huestis Alison Donnelly has more than 10 years of experience...
FEX: Anthropometric assessment of nutritional status in school-aged children and adolescents
View this article as a pdf Lisez cet article en français ici By Natasha Lelijveld Natasha Lelijveld is a senior nutritionist at ENN. She has previously worked in...
FEX: Letter
Dear Editors This issue of Field Exchange summarises an article that I authored (The 2001-03 Famine and the Dynamics of HIV in Malawi: a Natural Experiment) which suggests...
FEX: Gender impact analysis of unconditional cash transfers in south central Somalia
Summary of published research1 A woman tiedyes clothing Location: Somalia What we know already: Cash transfer programming can positively impact on nutrition and food...
FEX: Nutrition programming in Northern Bar el Ghazal, South Sudan: A time to reflect
By Natalie Sessions and Regine Kopplow View this article as a pdf Lisez cet article en français ici Natalie Sessions is the Emergency Nutrition Programme Manager for...
FEX: Impact evaluation of a cash-transfer programme for Syrian refugees in Lebanon
By Christian Lehmann and Daniel T. R. Masterson Daniel Masterson is a PhD student in Political Science at Yale University. Daniel worked for UNHCR in Syria in 2007 and 2008....
FEX: Emergency response preparedness: Rollout of the Global Nutrition Cluster’s toolkit for country coordination teams
View this article as a pdf Cecile Basquin is an Emergency Response Preparedness Consultant with the Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC) and UNICEF Marie Cusick is a Communications...
Reference this page
Famine fears in northeast Nigeria as Boko Haram fight rages. Field Exchange 55, July 2017. p20. www.ennonline.net/fex/55/faminefearsinnortheastnigeria
(ENN_5683)