Benue flags rising malnutrition among women and children in camps

The Benue State Government has raised concern over rising malnutrition among women and children, particularly those living in camps for internally displaced people.

The Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Paul Ogwuche, spoke at the flag-off of the 2026 World Breastfeeding Week and the launch of the First 1,000 Days Campaign, held at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital in Makurdi and organised by the State Primary Health Care Board with the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and other partners. He said displacement, food insecurity, poor sanitation and limited livelihoods had worsened acute malnutrition in the camps.

Ogwuche said the state was expanding community-based management of acute malnutrition through primary healthcare facilities, promoting infant and young child feeding practices, and working to keep nutrition commodities in stock in both camps and host communities. He described the period from conception to a child's second birthday as decisive for growth and learning, and said early and exclusive breastfeeding remains central to preventing malnutrition. Years of attacks on farming communities have kept thousands of Benue residents away from the land that used to feed them.