Nigeria

Start of program: 2016

Country key figures:

218 million inhabitants¹
800,000 children with acute malnutrition²
7.1 million people need humanitarian assistance³

ALIMA key figures:

43,239 children with severe acute malnutrition treated
143,453 consultations carried out for children under five years old

Areas of intervention:

Nutrition
Conflicts and population displacement
Maternal health
Outbreak response
Research and innovation

Humanitarian context

In 2022, security conditions in Borno, Katsina and Yobe States continued to deteriorate, with armed groups repeatedly attacking civilian and military targets, exacerbating humanitarian needs, and generating widespread displacement. Food insecurity was aggravated in conflict-affected areas in northeast and northwest Nigeria due to major floods and rising food costs, leading to a sharp rise in malnutrition.

ALIMA’s impact on the ground

Maternal and child health

In Nigeria, ALIMA teams focus on providing care to women and children. In Borno State, ALIMA provided medical, nutritional and maternal health care to displaced and vulnerable host populations affected by the crisis in Maiduguri. ALIMA supported three health facilities and provided support to three ATFCs* in the management of severe acute malnutrition.

In Yobe state, ALIMA supported five Primary Health Care Centers for nutrition and health care, and provided inpatient care for severe acute malnutrition cases with complications at the Gashua General Hospital Intensive Therapeutic Feeding Center.

In Katsina state, ALIMA ensured the provision of outpatient and inpatient nutrition and healthcare services for children under the age of five by supporting five Primary Health Care Centers in Kaita local government area and an Intensive Therapeutic Feeding Center at the Kaita Community Health Center.

Fighting epidemics

In 2022, in Yobe State, ALIMA provided emergency response for a cholera epidemic by setting up a 40-bed cholera treatment center and oral rehydration point in the Muna clinic.

In Ondo State, ALIMA has been supporting the Nigeria Center for Disease Control and the Ministry of Health with Lassa fever case management, active case detection, patient triage, public awareness campaigns, and reinforcement of Infection Prevention and Control measures.

In addition, ALIMA, via the CORAL (Clinical and Operational Research Alliance) platform, continued to coordinate several studies to better understand Lassa fever, including an observational cohort study (LASCOPE), and a phase II clinical trial (SAFARI).

¹ World Bank 2022

² United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 2021

³ United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)

⁴ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)