Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the WFP, said Afghanistan was experiencing its worst malnutrition surge on record following climate-related disasters, a deadly earthquake and the return of millions of Afghans expelled from Iran and Pakistan.“It is a nutrition crisis here in Afghanistan,” Skau told AFP during a visit to the country.

“The surge last year was the worst we’ve ever seen. It’s worse this year.”The WFP estimated in January that around five million Afghan women and children would face life-threatening levels of malnutrition in 2026 in a country of more than 40 million people.

Afghanistan’s conflict-driven border shutdown with Pakistan, which has largely halted cross-border movement for nearly eight months, combined with economic fallout linked to the Iran war, has disrupted regional supply chains and pushed up prices for fuel and essential food commodities.

“If we weren’t struggling with the supply chain, both delays and costs, we would be able to feed a million more children here in Afghanistan,” Skau said.He said thousands of tons of fortified biscuits intended for Afghan schoolchildren had originally been scheduled to transit through Pakistan before border restrictions forced the WFP to reroute supplies through Dubai and Iran.

After conflict intensified in the Middle East, the agency was compelled to redirect shipments again through seven countries, including Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Georgia and Turkmenistan.“It’s about to arrive this week, but it’s taken months.

It cost us way more,” Skau said.Funding shortages have compounded the crisis. The WFP has secured only eight percent of its targeted funding for Afghanistan this year, limiting its ability to respond to escalating humanitarian needs.

Skau described visiting a rural clinic in eastern Afghanistan where women carrying severely malnourished children waited for hours seeking assistance, only to be turned away because aid stocks had run out.

“We did not have assistance to give them,” he said. “The desperation in the voice of these women will stay with me for a long time.”

In the densely populated informal settlements of Mumbai, a local waste-for-food initiative led by 27-year-old social entrepreneur Shakti Yadav is combining environmental cleanup efforts with food distribution in communities affected by poor sanitation and limited access to nutrition.

Yadav, founder of the “Buy Food with Plastic” initiative, operates a system in which residents exchange discarded plastic bottles for prepared meals. According to the programme’s operating model, 20 plastic bottles are accepted in return for one hot meal.The initiative, launched in 2020, has so far distributed more than 42,000 meals, supported approximately 4,500 people and conducted sustainability awareness activities involving over 1,000 students, according to figures cited in the report.

Yadav said the project was shaped by his own experience growing up in a Mumbai slum, where seasonal flooding and poor waste management created recurring public health risks.“During the monsoons, sewage water would flood the streets,” he said. “People had to wade through it because discarded plastic choked the drains.”

According to Yadav, blocked drainage systems contributed to repeated outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases, including dengue and malaria, in vulnerable neighbourhoods. His initiative was designed to address what he described as two interconnected urban challenges: unmanaged plastic waste and food insecurity.The programme operates through a circular collection and redistribution model.

Plastic bottles collected from participating residents are transferred to recycling facilities, where some workers are recruited from the same communities supplying the waste. The recycled material is then repurposed into products including flowerpots and tea coasters, which are later sold to companies, including international corporations.

Mumbai, India’s financial capital and one of the country’s most densely populated cities, generates thousands of tonnes of municipal solid waste daily. Plastic waste management has remained a major challenge for urban authorities, particularly during monsoon periods when clogged drainage infrastructure increases flood risks in low-income settlements.

Yadav said the project was inspired by a similar initiative operating in the United States. He contacted the founder of that programme and developed his own local adaptation focused on conditions in Mumbai’s informal settlements.An MBA graduate and the first member of his family to pursue higher education, Yadav initially managed the project while working in a corporate job.

He later left full-time employment to focus entirely on expanding the initiative.The transition initially faced resistance within his family. According to the report, Yadav’s mother questioned the sustainability of non-profit work and believed such efforts were generally undertaken by financially secure individuals or organizations.Yadav said he eventually persuaded her by demonstrating how the programme could simultaneously reduce waste accumulation and improve food access in underserved communities.

The meals distributed through the initiative are intended to support residents in slum areas where access to affordable and nutritious food remains inconsistent. By linking food distribution with waste collection, the programme also attempts to incentivize recycling participation among residents who may otherwise lack formal waste disposal options.

Environmental awareness has become another component of the initiative’s outreach strategy. Yadav and his team regularly visit schools and residential communities to conduct educational sessions focused on sustainability and waste disposal practices.“Previously, nobody told me that throwing plastic away was harmful,” Yadav said, describing the lack of environmental education during his childhood.

The awareness campaigns target younger audiences in particular, with organizers seeking to promote behavioural changes related to littering, recycling and environmental responsibility.The initiative’s visibility has expanded beyond Mumbai in recent years. According to the report, Yadav represented India in Germany during a programme focused on sustainability and climate change research.

He was also awarded the 2023 Cross-Cultural Program Fellowship.The project currently operates in selected slum clusters across Mumbai, although Yadav said he intends to expand its reach across additional parts of the city.Urban policy experts have increasingly emphasized the relationship between waste management, flooding and public health risks in Indian metropolitan regions.

During annual monsoon periods, low-income settlements often experience disproportionate exposure to waterlogging and sanitation failures due to inadequate drainage systems and high concentrations of unmanaged waste.

Plastic waste has become a central issue in municipal governance discussions across India, particularly after several state governments introduced restrictions on single-use plastics and expanded recycling regulations in recent years. Enforcement and waste segregation, however, remain inconsistent across many urban districts.

Programmes such as “Buy Food with Plastic” operate outside formal municipal systems but increasingly form part of localized efforts aimed at combining environmental management with social welfare objectives.The initiative also reflects a growing trend among younger social entrepreneurs in India seeking hybrid solutions that combine recycling, employment generation and food distribution.

By connecting waste collection with direct community incentives, such models attempt to address both environmental and economic pressures simultaneously.Yadav said his long-term objective remains focused on improving conditions within communities similar to the one where he was raised.

“My goal is to eradicate both plastic waste and hunger,” he said.

Hadja Lahbib said after talks with Joseph Aoun in Beirut that more than three million people across Lebanon currently depend on aid.“At present, more than three million people, meaning more than half of the population here in Lebanon, depend on humanitarian aid to survive,” Lahbib told reporters.

The comments underscore the growing humanitarian toll of the conflict that erupted on March 2 between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, displacing more than one million people and placing severe strain on Lebanon’s already fragile economy and public services.

According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli strikes since early March have killed more than 2,700 people. Israel has continued military operations in Lebanon despite a ceasefire aimed at halting the two-month war.

Lahbib said the European Union had allocated 100 million euros ($108 million) in assistance since the start of the conflict and dispatched six humanitarian aid flights to Lebanon, with another expected on Saturday.

The United Nations launched an emergency appeal in March seeking $308 million for humanitarian operations in Lebanon. U.N. agencies say only $126 million has been secured so far, leaving critical funding gaps for food, shelter and medical assistance.

Lahbib described the ceasefire as “a narrow window of hope” but said a sustainable peace would require action from both sides.She called on Hezbollah to halt attacks and disarm, while urging Israel to end its bombardment campaign.

“For a ceasefire to lead to peace, courage is needed political courage to address the root causes of this conflict,” Lahbib said.Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting are continuing, with Israel and Lebanon expected to hold a third round of talks in Washington next week despite Hezbollah’s opposition to direct negotiations with Israel.

The warning came as Israeli authorities issued new displacement orders for 16 areas south of the Litani River, instructing residents to move toward the nearby city of Saida, adding further pressure on already strained communities and humanitarian operations.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said civilians continued to bear the brunt of the hostilities, with women and children disproportionately affected by displacement, overcrowded shelters and worsening living conditions.

He said reports indicated rising levels of psychological distress, family separation and increased risks of gender-based violence, particularly in temporary shelters where access to protection services remains limited.

“We and our partners are responding to the mounting needs where access allows,” Dujarric told reporters, while noting that humanitarian operations remain constrained by insecurity and restricted access in several affected areas.

A new joint analysis by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme found that a sharp escalation in violence had reversed earlier food-security improvements and pushed Lebanon back into a crisis phase.

According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification assessment, around 1.24 million people nearly one in four of those surveyed — are projected to face IPC Phase 3, or crisis-level, food insecurity or worse during the April-to-August period.

At that level, households are typically forced to adopt severe coping strategies such as skipping meals, reducing food quality or selling essential assets to afford basic supplies.

Lebanon has been grappling with overlapping economic, political and security crises for years, with inflation, currency collapse and weakened state institutions already undermining access to food and public services before the latest surge in violence.

Humanitarian agencies also warned that funding shortfalls were limiting relief efforts. The Lebanon Flash Appeal has received just over $117 million so far, only 38% of the $308 million required to meet urgent needs, according to U.N. figures.

Dujarric said that without immediate additional funding and improved humanitarian access, conditions were likely to deteriorate further, leaving more families exposed to hunger, displacement and prolonged hardship.

The warning is the first Child Alert issued by the United Nations children’s agency for Darfur in 20 years and is used only in the most severe emergencies to draw urgent international attention.“Children are at a breaking point across the region. Childhood is again defined by fear, by loss,” Sheldon Yett, UNICEF’s representative in Sudan, told reporters in Geneva via video link from Port Sudan.“Children are bearing the heaviest weight of the war in Darfur.

Children are being killed and maimed, uprooted from their homes and pushed into extreme hunger, disease and trauma,” he said.Darfur, a vast region in western Sudan, has remained one of the epicenters of the conflict that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The fighting has included ethnically driven killings, widespread displacement and repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure, reviving memories of the earlier Darfur conflict that began in 2003 when rebels rose against Sudan’s government and state-backed Arab militias launched a brutal counterinsurgency campaign.

UNICEF said homes, schools and health facilities across the region have been burned, damaged or destroyed, leaving children without access to education, medical care or basic safety.The agency warned that despite the worsening crisis, international attention and funding remain far below what is needed.

Its humanitarian appeal for Sudan this year is only 16% funded.Across Sudan, at least 160 children were reportedly killed and 85 injured in the first three months of 2026, a significant increase compared with the same period last year, UNICEF said.

The most severe impact has been recorded in Al-Fashir, the long-besieged capital of North Darfur, where at least 1,300 children have been killed or maimed since April 2024.UNICEF also reported cases of sexual violence, child abductions and forced recruitment of minors by armed groups in the area.

Acute malnutrition has worsened sharply, with famine-level conditions confirmed in two additional areas of North Darfur in February, according to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that restricted humanitarian access, continued shelling and the collapse of essential services are accelerating the risk of mass starvation, particularly among children and displaced families.

The conflict has displaced millions across Sudan and created one of the world’s largest humanitarian emergencies, with Darfur once again at the center of the crisis.

In Omdurman’s Al-Nao Educational Hospital, volunteers work as nurses, paramedics and pharmacists, often rushing to bomb sites to help victims.

Community kitchens known as “takkaya” provide free meals to families facing hunger, while local burial teams recover unidentified bodies and conduct funerals during ongoing shelling.

Many of these volunteers emerged from Sudan’s resistance committees, neighborhood groups that once led protests against former president Omar al-Bashir.

Despite reduced donations and constant danger, residents say they continue because basic survival in the war-torn capital depends on them.“We could leave tomorrow, but our country needs us,” one volunteer said.

Once regarded as a model for universal welfare in South Asia, Sri Lanka is now confronting rising food insecurity, strained public services and widening social vulnerability, prompting renewed calls from economists and rights advocates for a development model centered on universal entitlements rather than austerity-led growth.

For decades, Sri Lanka was recognized for its relatively strong public investments in education, healthcare and food subsidies, which helped establish high social indicators compared with many countries at similar income levels. Universal schooling, accessible healthcare and broad-based welfare programs were often cited as pillars of the country’s post-independence development strategy.

But recent years have seen that framework come under increasing pressure.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s 2025 Hunger Map and the World Food Programme’s 2024 Household Food Security Overview, around one million people in Sri Lanka are now chronically undernourished, while nearly nine million more struggle to access sufficient nutritious food. Nearly four in ten households report inadequate diets, reflecting a sharp deterioration in food security in a country that was once largely self-sufficient in food production and a major seafood exporter.

The figures come against the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s prolonged economic crisis, which intensified after the country’s sovereign debt default in 2022 and triggered inflation, currency depreciation, shortages of essential goods and sweeping fiscal restructuring.

Dr. Ahilan Kadirgamar, a leading Sri Lankan economist and senior lecturer at the University of Jaffna, said the country’s current challenges reflect not only immediate economic distress but a deeper structural shift away from universal welfare protections.

He argues that austerity measures, combined with financialization and infrastructure-heavy development priorities, redirected state resources away from people-centered public services and toward projects that did not adequately protect livelihoods.

“Until recently, Sri Lanka was a country that could sustain itself and export seafood worldwide,” Kadirgamar said. “But now we are facing a situation where millions are unable to access enough nutritious food, and public institutions are under severe strain.

”According to Kadirgamar, hospitals continue to face shortages of essential medicines, universities are functioning under reduced real funding, and welfare programs have become increasingly narrow and targeted rather than universal, leaving large sections of the population exposed during periods of crisis.

He said the transition from universal subsidies toward selective welfare mechanisms has weakened the resilience of ordinary households, particularly during inflationary shocks and employment disruptions.

Kadirgamar has called for what he describes as a “Human Rights Economy,” a framework that places universal access, democratic participation and social protection at the center of economic decision-making.

Rather than treating economic planning as a technical domain reserved for specialists, he argues that citizens must have a direct role in shaping the priorities that affect their livelihoods.

“Economic policies cannot be the realm of experts,” he said. “It must be democratized. It is people’s demands that should determine economic policies.”

The concept of a Human Rights Economy has gained wider attention through advocacy by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which frames economic governance through the lens of rights protection, equality and public accountability. The approach emphasizes that economic growth alone is insufficient if it does not translate into dignity, food security, healthcare access and social participation.

Kadirgamar said such a shift requires not only policy reform but also organized civic action.“Change will not come without action,” he said. “There needs to be coalitions organizing at every level.”He pointed to cooperatives as one practical mechanism for rebuilding resilience.

Small, democratic and community-based institutions, he said, can help reconnect producers and consumers while reducing dependence on fragile centralized supply chains and volatile global markets.In Sri Lanka, cooperative structures historically played an important role in rural development and agricultural distribution, though many weakened over time amid market liberalization and institutional decline.

Reviving such models, Kadirgamar said, could support local production while strengthening accountability and participation.“To rebuild the economy, citizens and policymakers must rethink how economic policies are made and form coalitions demanding equality, participation and universal rights,” he said.

He views the Human Rights Economy not simply as a new policy language but as a fundamental departure from the trajectory of recent decades.“That’s the context in which I understand the idea of a human rights economy,” he said. “A new framework, but one that has to completely shift from the path we have been on.”

Sri Lanka’s experience is increasingly cited in international discussions about debt, austerity and social rights, particularly as many developing economies face pressure to implement fiscal consolidation measures while managing inflation, debt servicing and weakened welfare systems.

Critics of austerity argue that reducing spending on health, education and food protection during economic recovery often deepens long-term inequality and undermines social stability, even when such measures are framed as necessary for macroeconomic reform.

Supporters of fiscal restructuring, however, argue that restoring financial credibility is essential for long-term recovery and investor confidence, especially after sovereign default.The tension between these approaches has become central to Sri Lanka’s policy debate.

The issue is also being examined through the United Nations-backed podcast series “Economies That Work for All,” produced by UN Human Rights and the UN System Staff College’s Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development.

The series explores how human rights principles can be integrated into economic systems to support progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has also spoken publicly about the need for rights-based economic models, particularly in countries facing sovereign debt burdens and widening inequality.

For Sri Lanka, the debate is no longer theoretical. With millions facing nutritional insecurity and public institutions under visible pressure, the question of whether recovery should be measured by fiscal balance sheets or by human well-being is becoming increasingly urgent.

What emerges from that choice may shape not only the country’s economic future, but the social contract that defines it.

Haiti is facing a multi-layered humanitarian emergency marked by escalating armed violence, institutional breakdown and worsening food insecurity, with children bearing the brunt of the crisis, according to data and operational updates released by UNICEF.

The agency describes the situation as a “polycrisis,” where overlapping shocks have pushed already fragile systems close to collapse.Even before the latest deterioration, Haiti was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, shaped by decades of limited access to basic services, deep inequality and persistent social exclusion.

These structural challenges have intensified as armed groups expand their control, particularly in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding regions such as the Artibonite department. According to UNICEF, these groups are engaged in territorial conflicts that have disrupted transport corridors, restricted economic activity and impeded the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

The breakdown of security has had direct consequences for essential services. Health systems in several parts of the country are described as being on the brink of collapse, with facilities rendered inaccessible due to insecurity. UNICEF reports that thousands of families are unable to reach healthcare providers, while staff shortages and rising demand further strain the limited capacity that remains.

Displacement has compounded these pressures, as families fleeing violence seek refuge in areas already struggling to maintain basic services.By the end of 2025, an estimated 1.4 million people had been internally displaced, approximately half of them children. This movement of populations has intensified vulnerabilities, particularly among children who face heightened risks of malnutrition, interrupted education and exposure to violence.

UNICEF estimates that 2.6 million children in Haiti required humanitarian assistance at the start of 2026, reflecting the scale of need across the country.Food insecurity has reached critical levels. Nearly 5.7 million people, representing more than half the population, are experiencing or are projected to experience acute food insecurity.

Among them are approximately 1.2 million children under the age of five, a group particularly vulnerable to life-threatening malnutrition. UNICEF indicates that hunger is most severe in densely populated and insecure urban areas, where access to food, healthcare and social services has been severely disrupted.The education sector has also been significantly affected.

Armed violence, including attacks on schools and threats against educators, has led to widespread closures and intermittent reopening of institutions. During the 2024–2025 academic year, more than 1,600 schools were reported closed, affecting around 7,500 teachers and disrupting learning for over 240,000 students.

UNICEF notes that beyond formal education, schools in Haiti often serve as critical support systems, providing meals and a sense of stability for children living in volatile environments.The impact of the crisis on children extends beyond disrupted services. UNICEF reports that children are increasingly exposed to violence, including being killed or injured while traveling to school.

Women and girls face heightened risks of sexual violence, while children are at risk of recruitment into armed groups. In some cases, children are coerced into joining such groups due to economic desperation or threats against their families. Others join after being separated from caregivers, seeking protection or means of survival.

Humanitarian conditions are further complicated by recurring climate-related shocks, which add to the strain on already weakened systems. While specific events are not detailed in the latest update, UNICEF identifies climate-related disruptions as a contributing factor to the broader crisis dynamics, particularly in terms of food security and displacement.

In response, UNICEF states that it is scaling up its operations despite the volatile environment. Working with government authorities and partners, the agency is attempting to sustain essential services at national, regional and local levels. In areas where access is particularly constrained, efforts are focused on maintaining neighborhood-level systems that can deliver basic support to affected populations.

UNICEF reports that its interventions include the delivery of vaccines and therapeutic food, as well as initiatives to improve access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. The agency is also prioritizing psychosocial support for children affected by violence and displacement, alongside protection services for victims of gender-based violence and unaccompanied minors.

Education remains a key focus of the response. UNICEF is distributing school kits and advocating for the protection of educational facilities, urging all parties involved in the conflict to refrain from actions that undermine children’s access to learning.

A nationwide cash transfer program has been introduced to support families, with the aim of enabling children to return to school and reducing economic pressures that may lead to child labor or recruitment into armed groups.

At the policy level, UNICEF is calling for an end to violations against children, including killings, recruitment into armed groups and sexual violence. The agency is urging armed groups to cease attacks on civilian infrastructure, release children from their ranks and allow safe access for humanitarian operations.

It is also calling on security forces to prioritize child protection and on government authorities and international partners to invest in social services that address the needs of children across sectors.The operational environment remains highly constrained. UNICEF notes that ongoing violence continues to obstruct humanitarian access, limiting the ability of aid organizations to reach affected populations consistently.

Despite these challenges, the agency maintains that sustaining basic services and protection mechanisms is critical to mitigating the long-term impact of the crisis on Haiti’s children.

Zuwaira Hanafi stood outside a healthcare facility in Kaita, in Nigeria’s northern Katsina state, as medical staff hurried into a ward where her eight-month-old daughter lay semiconscious, underscoring the urgency confronting health workers in a region grappling with rising levels of severe malnutrition.

At the entrance, clinicians used colour-coded measuring tapes to assess the mid-upper arm circumference of children, a standard method for diagnosing malnutrition.

A steady flow of mothers, including teenagers, arrived with infants in critical condition, reflecting what humanitarian agencies describe as a deepening hunger crisis affecting large parts of the country.The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has warned that as many as 33 million Nigerians could face severe hunger in 2026, a record level.

Data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs indicates that approximately 6.4 million children in Nigeria are expected to be acutely malnourished by the end of the year, with the burden concentrated in northern regions such as Katsina.

Dr Soma Bahonan, head of the Nigeria mission for the Alliance for International Medical Action (Alima), which operates the Kaita facility in partnership with local authorities, said the crisis is expanding beyond children. Increasing numbers of mothers are also presenting with acute malnutrition, compounding the risks to infant health and survival.

Alima has expanded its operations to include mobile clinics designed to reach remote populations unable to travel to fixed facilities. These services include transport support for critical cases from surrounding communities.

However, Bahonan described the scale of need as exceeding operational capacity, particularly in Katsina, which has become a focal point of what aid workers describe as an intergenerational hunger crisis.Longstanding drivers of food insecurity, including climate variability and structural governance challenges, have been intensified by rising insecurity.

Attacks by jihadist groups and other non-state actors have disrupted farming activities and restricted access to agricultural land, further weakening household food production and income stability.The strain on the healthcare system is evident in workforce shortages. Nigeria’s doctor-to-patient ratio is estimated at roughly 1:9,000, significantly below the World Health Organization’s recommended ratio of 1:600.

Medical professionals continue to leave the country, citing delayed salary payments and limited career prospects, further reducing service capacity in already underserved areas.While digital health startups and private-sector partnerships have made progress in urban centres such as Lagos and Abuja, their reach remains limited in rural and conflict-affected regions due to infrastructure deficits and high inflation.

This uneven distribution of innovation has widened disparities in healthcare access.Analysts describe Nigeria’s current situation as a convergence of multiple crises. Joachim MacEbong, a senior analyst at Control Risks in Lagos, said the country faces overlapping economic, security, and human development challenges that reinforce one another.

He noted that these interconnected pressures are contributing to deteriorating health outcomes and weakening institutional response capacity.Humanitarian organisations have begun planning for the annual lean season, typically spanning June to September, when food stocks decline and malnutrition rates tend to rise.

The period is expected to place additional stress on already constrained health and nutrition services.Policy interventions have been introduced, though their impact remains uncertain.

In 2025, the Nigerian government partnered with the World Bank to implement the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria project, aimed at delivering basic nutrition services to vulnerable households.

A second phase of the programme is currently under way, but experts say broader structural reforms are required to improve food affordability and strengthen social protection systems.Supply chain inefficiencies continue to limit access to essential medicines and equipment.

Peter Bunor Jr, co-founder and head of growth at Field Intelligence, a health technology company focused on pharmaceutical logistics in Africa, said disruptions in global and domestic supply chains are contributing to shortages at the point of care.

Patients often travel long distances only to find that prescribed drugs are unavailable or replaced with alternatives, frequently at higher cost.Bunor said the impact of these shortages is amplified during a hunger crisis, as malnourished individuals are more susceptible to infections and require timely medical intervention.

He emphasised the need for better data integration and forecasting to prevent stockouts.In 2018, Field Intelligence launched the Nigeria Health Logistics Management Information System, a platform designed to track pharmaceutical supply data across public health programmes.

The system, now managed by the federal health ministry, has been expanded with support from UNICEF, and stakeholders are encouraging wider adoption among health agencies to improve coordination and anticipate shortages.Funding constraints remain a central concern.

Nigeria allocated approximately 5.2% of its 47.9 trillion naira national budget to the health sector, well below the 15% target set under the Abuja Declaration by African Union member states. Per capita health spending remains among the lowest on the continent.

In February, Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate disclosed that of the 218 billion naira allocated for operations and capital projects under the ministry, only 36 million naira had been released. The figure, representing a small fraction of the approved budget, has raised concerns about implementation capacity and fiscal prioritisation.

MacEbong said the funding gap illustrates broader structural challenges in public finance management, noting that limited budget execution undermines service delivery even where allocations exist. He added that the scale of the crisis requires sustained government attention, particularly in sectors directly linked to human capital development.

Aid organisations continue to call for increased domestic investment in health and nutrition, alongside improved coordination with international partners.

As conditions in northern Nigeria worsen, frontline health workers face mounting pressure to manage a growing caseload with limited resources, highlighting systemic vulnerabilities in one of Africa’s largest economies.