International Development Committee Inquiry: The UK’s development partnership with Nigeria

Submission of Evidence: United Against Malnutrition & Hunger

United Against Malnutrition & Hunger

1.       United Against Malnutrition & Hunger (UAMH) is a not-for-profit organisation campaigning for UK action on global malnutrition and hunger. We believe that access to good nutrition is not only a right that should be enjoyed by all around the world, but also a vital pre-requisite to achieving wider development goals.

2.       Our alliance brings together leaders from scientific, business, finance, military, diplomatic, philanthropic, and faith backgrounds who want to see a world in which everyone has access to the nutrition they need to thrive and contribute to prosperous and stable communities.

3.       Our mission is to press for UK action on global malnutrition and hunger by mobilising cross-sector expertise and championing solutions that can end it.

4.       UAMH is making this submission to the International Development Committee’s inquiry into the UK’s development partnership with Nigeria to highlight the impact of malnutrition and hunger on Nigeria as a key development challenge facing the country, and to emphasise the UK’s support for and role in tackling malnutrition and hunger.

Nigeria’s key development challenges: malnutrition and hunger

5.                                                                               

1.                                                   “A malnourished population is an unproductive one, and an unproductive population drags down the wheels of progress” – Vice President of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima [1]

6.       Access to good nutrition is foundational to development. Good nutrition plays a critical role in health, education, economic advancement, and gender equality. It is critical to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, in particular, to SDGs 2.1 and 2.2 – to end hunger, to end all forms of malnutrition, and to ensure universal access to safe and nutritious food by 2030.

7.       Globally, malnutrition – an entirely preventable and treatable condition – is a direct or underlying cause of 45 per cent of all deaths of children under the age of five. High rates of malnutrition pose significant public health and development challenges to countries; it is estimated that reducing malnutrition can raise gross domestic product (GDP) per capita by as much as 11 per cent[2]. Wasting, the share of children under five who have low weight for their height, is the deadliest form of malnutrition and leads to high rates of child deaths. Stunting, the share of children under five who have low height for their age, impairs physical and mental development for generations often resulting in a lowered performance in education and low productivity in adulthood.

8.       Malnutrition is a significant concern in Nigeria, driven by multifaceted and interlinked factors. High levels of poverty, inadequate access to healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), poor infant and child feeding practices, economic shocks, food price inflation, extreme weather events such as flooding, and increased conflict and displacement all contribute to a worsening nutrition crisis and food insecurity across Nigeria. Low vaccine uptake and disease outbreaks, such as malaria and cholera, further impact and compound health and nutrition outcomes as malnutrition both increases susceptibility to disease by suppressing the immune systems of children, as well as being driven by diseases, such as measles.

9.       Armed conflict and insecurity impact nearly all aspects of the food system, including production, processing, distribution, and marketing.[3] Violence and insecurity intersect and can exacerbate other threats, such as the effects of climate change, which can lead to migration that, in turn, may cause cultural or ethnic tensions to flare up. In Northern Nigeria, where the bulk of food production occurs, insecurity and conflict are widespread, displacing over 3.3 million people, severely impacting communities, disrupting livelihoods and access to economic activities such as food production, and further limiting access to basic services, including healthcare.[4] It was estimated that conflict caused US$ 3.7 billion in agricultural losses in northeast Nigeria in 2016 alone.[5] In addition, militant groups including Boko Haram, bandits, and armed herders have forced at least 78,000 farmers to abandon their farmland in Borno, Katsina, Taraba, Plateau, and other northern states.[6]

10.   Historically one of the world’s largest freshwater bodies, Lake Chad has lost 90 per cent of its surface area since the 1960s, largely due to human-induced climate change. Recurrent droughts and deadly floods have worsened due to the changing climate, deepening hunger and malnutrition and forcing people to flee their homes. Lake Chad used to give employment for about four million people, but now less than one million people – about 250,000 to 500,000 – stay there. The World Food Programme (WFP) warns that rising food insecurity around Lake Chad, propelled by aid cuts to the region, is boosting militant groups, including Boko Haram.[7]

1. “The Sahel and Lake Chad Basin regions are grappling with an unprecedented food security and nutrition crisis that jeopardises their vast potential. We must act swiftly to prevent conflict, climate change impacts, and economic challenges from disrupting humanitarian efforts, and from increasing safety risks.” – Margot van der Velden, WFP’s Regional Director for Western Africa. [8]

11.   As a result of these intersecting factors, Nigeria has the largest population in the world facing ‘Crisis’ or Worse levels of food insecurity (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 3 or above). 31.8 million people in Nigeria faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 2024, an additional 6.9 million from the previous year, of which around one million were in ‘Emergency’ (IPC Phase 4).[9] Nigeria has a level of hunger which is categorised by the 2024 Global Hunger Index as ‘serious’.[10] 17 million children are malnourished, the second highest globally after India.[11]

12.   10 million people in three northern states are food insecure.[12] A food security survey carried out by humanitarian organisations in the local government area of Kaita, in Katsina state, before the lean season began at the start of 2025 revealed that over 90 per cent of households had reduced the number of meals they ate each day.[13] Once a major producer of food, the northern regions now rely heavily on humanitarian food assistance.

13.   In June 2025, Nigeria’s Vice-President, Kashim Shettima, said that malnutrition had deprived “40 per cent of Nigerian children under five their full physical and cognitive potential”.[14] Over 10 per cent of children die before their fifth birthday.[15] 29 per cent of children under six months are exclusively breastfed and only 12 per cent of children aged six to 23 months are fed with the minimum acceptable dietary diversity.[16]  The nutritional status of children under five has not greatly improved over the last five years, with an increase in children under five who were stunted and wasted (from 27 per cent in 2018 to 40 per cent in 2024 and from seven per cent in 2018 to eight per cent in 2024, respectively).[17] Nigeria has the second highest burden of stunted children in the world.[18] An estimated two million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition, but only two out of every 10 children affected is currently reached with treatment.[19] Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) recently reported that the number of children with the most severe and deadly form of malnutrition has more than doubled in the first half of 2025, with 652 child deaths in MSF facilities since the beginning of 2025 due to lack of timely access to care.[20]

14.   In households, women and girls often eat last, least, and worst. Seven per cent of women of childbearing age suffer from acute malnutrition[21] and 37.9 per cent of women aged 15 to 49 years are affected by anaemia[22]. During pregnancy, anaemia has been associated with poor maternal and birth outcomes, including premature birth, low birth weight, and maternal mortality, and anaemia can also have important financial impacts for individuals, families, communities, and countries – it is estimated that for every US$ 1 invested in reducing anaemia in women, US$ 12 in economic returns could potentially be produced[23]. Women also typically have less decision-making power and access to resources.[24] Over 50 per cent of subsistence smallholder farmers are women, yet they only own between five to 10 per cent of the land.[25] Gender justice is critical to the elimination of malnutrition in communities and evidence shows that, when women have the resources and opportunities they need, they can significantly improve food security and nutrition for their families and communities.[26]

UK support and role: tackling malnutrition and hunger

15.   Investing in nutrition does not just support development outcomes but also contributes to building long-term stability. In conflict affected regions like the northeast, food insecurity and malnutrition exacerbate poverty and inequality, decimate livelihoods, fuel unrest, and destabilise and displace communities. Targeted nutrition interventions – particularly for children, mothers, and displaced populations – can strengthen resilience, improve educational and economic outcomes, and restore trust in government services. Nutrition yields high social and economic returns, making it one of the most cost-effective tools for promoting peace and inclusive growth.

16.   The UK has been at the heart of international efforts to tackle global malnutrition and hunger over many decades. Regrettably, the UK’s reputation as a trusted partner on global nutrition has been undermined by consecutive reductions in Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 0.7 per cent of gross national income (GNI) to 0.5 per cent in 2021 and to 0.3 per cent by 2027, as announced in February 2025. The ODA reduction in 2021 led to nutrition spending being cut by more than 60 per cent. The full impact of the 2025 aid cuts is still to be fully realised but reductions to health spending, including programmes on nutrition, WASH, education, and those targeting women and children will have a significant impact on the most vulnerable communities in Nigeria. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)’s own impact assessment notes that “reductions to health spending risk an increase in disease burden and ultimately in deaths, impacting in particular those living in poverty, women, children, and people with disabilities”.[27]

17.   Nigeria will face specific UK cuts to education and will be affected by cuts across areas such as health, WASH, and women and girls, all of which interact and impact on nutrition outcomes. Nigeria is also experiencing budget cuts from the United States, with estimated real terms cut of $179 million[28], which is already having a real impact on malnutrition and hunger. In July 2025, WFP announced it would be forced to suspend all emergency food and nutrition aid for 1.3 million people in northeast Nigeria due to critical funding shortfalls.[29]

18.   In a diminished ODA budget, nutrition should be protected and prioritised in order to ensure the UK’s international aid budget has maximum impact. It is essential for Nigeria to have the ability to scale up treatment of severe malnutrition by increasing coverage and access of proven and cost-effective interventions such as Ready-To-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).[30] Investments in combating maternal and child malnutrition yields $23 for every $1 spent.[31] RUTF costs less than $1 per child per day and has recovery rates ranging between 70 per cent and 90 per cent of children treated.[32] The FCDO must help to ensure it is working in partnership with communities, the Nigerian government, and Nigerian civil society to scale up these initiatives, including through local production. Local production ensures lower costs, is geographically closer to those in need, and increases accountability.

19.   Emmanuel Berbain, nutrition referent at MSF, notes that the most urgent way to reduce the risk of immediate death from malnutrition in Nigeria is to ensure families have access to food through large-scale distribution of food or nutritional supplements, or through cash distributions where possible. The capacity to care for and treat malnourished children must also be expanded by increasing the number of beds in health facilities, in priority areas. People over the age of five, who are also increasingly affected by malnutrition but are currently not covered by any assistance in Nigeria, should be included in prevention programmes.[33]

20.   Scaling up immediate humanitarian assistance is essential, but it must also be linked to long-term strategies for recovery and growth. Investment in sustainable food systems is crucial to ensure access to nutritious food and prevent malnutrition. Research and development (R&D) into affordable nutritious and climate resilient crops should be prioritised. As should investment in anticipatory action to identify the early warning signs of rising hunger and malnutrition. With proper support, adequate food systems can stabilise communities, create jobs, and build peace.

21.   Women are central to food systems in fragile settings but face barriers accessing land, finance, and training.[34] Ensuring girls and women have access to good nutrition is critical to supporting their health, education, development, and well-being, as well as the overall productivity and stability of communities. The UK must bolster locally led responses and empower women’s networks to prevent further violence and address the specific nutritional needs of women and girls. The UK Government must use its role as a convening power to ensure local organisations that are led by and work with women and girls are central to discussions and decisions on nutrition.[35] The UK must increase the gender focus of FCDO’s nutrition programmes, especially in light of cuts to gender programming.

22.   The UK should prioritise investment in locally led initiatives to tackle malnutrition and create capacity for advocacy in public health policy, as well as strengthening health and community systems and support the full integration of nutrition into all aspects of the primary health care system. The UK can advance nutrition integration by announcing their own target for nutrition integration, as well as championing this issue on the global stage.

23.   Rising unsustainable debt burdens continue to force governments to cut vital public services and make them less likely to be able to invest in agricultural development, social protection programmes, and other areas of the food system, deepening poverty and hunger. The cost of servicing debt has rapidly escalated in Nigeria. In 2010, interest payments accounted for just 5.1 per cent of government revenue. By 2023, that figure had soared to 34 per cent – a sixfold increase – pushing the country into a severe fiscal squeeze. The UK is uniquely positioned to champion debt reforms, given its influential role in global financial systems and its strategic interest in Nigeria, including by promoting greater transparency, fairer creditor practices, and ensuring stronger links between debt restructuring and nutrition outcomes.

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