MSF staff teach families to measure their children’s mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC)—a simple, lifesaving, technique to help catch malnutrition early. In Bauchi, Nigeria, these workshops empower parents and caretakers to monitor their children’s health and detect malnutrition before it develops into a severe case.
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Ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) can be stored long-term without refrigeration and is densely packed with a specific balance of nutrients to fight malnutrition. Most children can be treated at home with follow-up appointments. In Kebbi state alone, over 11,000 children received treatment through our outpatient nutrition treatment program.
For more severe cases, MSF also admits malnourished children to inpatient feeding programs. In the first six months of 2024, more than 5,780 children were admitted to our inpatient therapeutic feeding center at Kafin Madaki General hospital in Bauchi state. At MSF’s feeding center at Maiyama, our staff admitted about 1,000 children in May 2024 alone—an 80 percent increase from the previous year.
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“Prevention will always be better than a cure,” said Maryam Muhammad, head of the MSF health promotion team in Kebbi. She and her team host workshops across the state where they show families how to prepare Tom Brown—a highly nutritious porridge inspired by a traditional Nigerian recipe which can combat malnutrition among children. This community-led response relies on locally produced ingredients and education to empower parents to prevent and treat malnutrition.
“MSF will not remain here forever, so sustainable approaches are needed to reduce severe malnutrition,” said Muhammad. “And we know that the people we train today will pass the recipe to others.”
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Gratefully,
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières USA
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