Rainy season worsens disease, hunger crisis in Zamfara - MSF

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has sounded the alarm over deteriorating health and humanitarian conditions in northwestern Nigeria's Zamfara State, warning that the ongoing rainy season is fueling deadly outbreaks of diseases and exacerbating malnutrition.

The humanitarian medical organization stated that the annual rains, typically occurring between May and September, have become a "season of death" for many families already displaced and impoverished by years of armed violence and insecurity. Flooding, stagnant water, inadequate sanitation, and overcrowded living conditions are accelerating the spread of infectious diseases.

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The rainy season affects the way we see patients. It increases the risks and transmission of many diseases, like malaria, cholera and other acute watery diarrheal diseases.

Compounding the crisis, food shortages and limited access to healthcare are leaving thousands of residents vulnerable to preventable deaths. Sani Adamu, Nursing Activity Manager at an MSF hospital in Zamfara, explained how the rainy season increases the risk and transmission of diseases like malaria and cholera. "Stagnant floodwater creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes, causing malaria cases to surge, while contaminated water sources contribute to outbreaks of cholera, typhoid fever and other waterborne illnesses," Adamu said.

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In places where sanitation is poor and water sources are unsafe, any contamination can spread quickly. Flooding washes waste, garbage and faecal matter into water sources, spreading water-borne diseases. Children play in this water, households use it, and people fall sick.

MSF reported treating 136,778 malaria patients and 13,877 cholera cases in Zamfara State in 2025 alone. The organization also noted the rising burden of typhoid complications, particularly among children, citing the case of Auwalu Biliya, who required emergency surgery for intestinal perforation after contracting the illness from contaminated food and water.

Beyond disease outbreaks, the rainy season coincides with the annual lean season, a period of depleted food supplies and sharply rising malnutrition rates. MSF treated 60,566 malnourished children in Zamfara in 2025, underscoring the critical need for immediate humanitarian intervention.

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Early treatment is crucial. When treatment is delayed, the intestine can perforate, a severe condition where the intestine ruptures. At that stage, complications can be fatal, and surgery is the only option.