Stakeholders in the health sector have called for stronger investment in Nigeria’s health system to address persistent humanitarian and health challenges confronting vulnerable communities.
The call came Wednesday in Abuja at the 30th anniversary of the operations of
Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF, in Nigeria.
The stakeholders reported that nearly 6.4 million children aged 0–59 months are suffering from acute malnutrition, including about two million cases of severe acute malnutrition.
At the event, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ecological Project Office, Dr. Aishetu Gogo Ndayako Mohammed, noted that the anniversary reflected three decades of compassion, humanity, solidarity and service to people in need.
Mohammed noted that MSF had played a significant role in communities affected by conflict, displacement, disease outbreaks, malnutrition and other humanitarian emergencies, adding that its experience in emergency response, maternal and child healthcare, nutrition and disease control offered valuable lessons for strengthening Nigeria’s health system.
Also speaking at the event, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, represented by the Director of Internal Cooperation, Dr. Sampson Ebimaro, said MSF treated more than 444,000 children for malnutrition in 2025, including over 353,000 through outpatient feeding programmes and more than 90,000 in stabilisation centres.
He said MSF also treated more than 341,000 malaria patients, assisted over 35,590 deliveries and conducted 224 fistula surgeries while responding to outbreaks of cholera, measles, diphtheria and Lassa fever.
According to him, MSF operated in 10 states in 2025, including Bauchi, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara, while expanding its presence to Anambra and Niger.
Bagudu said the government’s responsibility was to ensure that humanitarian interventions complemented national priorities and strengthened local capacity.
“The ultimate measure of our success is not how many interventions we deliver, but whether we build the capacity of Nigerian institutions to deliver those interventions and sustain them whenever MSF decides to hand over operations to the host state,” he said.
He also cited MSF data showing a 330 per cent rise in measles cases in Zamfara in 2025 compared with 2024, while treatment centres in Sokoto recorded peak bed occupancy of 183 per cent, with an 8.1 per cent mortality rate among admitted children.
The Minister if Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, represented by the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, described MSF as a dependable partner whose interventions had improved healthcare delivery and strengthened community resilience.
The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Ms Elsie Attafuah, said MSF’s 30 years in Nigeria should ultimately be measured in lives saved.
Attafuah said MSF had treated more than 400,000 children for acute malnutrition in 2025, while supporting maternal and newborn care, nutrition services and noma treatment.
MSF Country Representative, Dr. Aldikhari Ahmed, said the organisation’s 30-year journey in Nigeria began in 1996 with its response to a meningitis epidemic in Kano, Bauchi and Katsina.
Ahmed noted that MSF had since expanded its work to maternal and child health, nutrition, vaccination, surgery, tuberculosis and HIV care, as well as emergency responses to conflict, displacement and disease outbreaks.
However, Ahmed called for stronger collaboration among stakeholders, noting that MSF cannot address Nigeria’s health challenges alone.
“We cannot treat our way out of all of this, but we must try to prevent it,” he said, stressing that malnutrition, disease and displacement were interconnected and required collective action,” he said while reaffirming MSF’s commitment to providing care based solely on need, regardless of nationality, religion, ethnicity or political affiliation.
