Northern Nigeria's toxic mix of violence and hunger
WFP warns shrinking aid and region's alarming food security outlook risks fueling more instability - with potential spillovers across West Africa.
Outside a health centre in the northeastern Nigerian town of Dikwa, where women and children pack wooden benches awaiting treatment, an employee slips a MUAC (mid-upper arm circumference) nutrition band around Zara’s tiny arm. The band enters the tell-tale red zone - the 1-year-old baby is severely malnourished.
“Even when we get food, it is always the same thing,” says mother Maryam, 20, describing the family's diet of maize and sorghum. “That is why there is no improvement to her health.”
The special nutrient-rich food little Zara receives at the World Food Programme (WFP)-supported clinic is designed to give her the vitamins, minerals and energy her body needs. But that support may be short-lived - even as hunger and malnutrition skyrocket in Nigeria. Read more
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