CCRHSD

NUTRITION IN EMERGENCY PROGRAMS IN INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS (IDP) CAMPS IN BENUE STATE.

The worsening state of insecurity in Benue has posed an ever-increasing threat to lives of the people and means of livelihood. Scores of people have been displaced from their ancestral homes with loss of farmland and limited access to healthcare driving food insecurity, with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) among children under five reaching 8.4% in the Internally Displaced Persons Camps. In the aftermath of the devastating Yelewata attack in Guma LGA in June 2025, Centre for Community Resource, Health and Social Development (CCRHSD) has continued to deliver critical Nutrition in Emergency services to women and children in IDP camps across Makurdi and Guma. Under the network of Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), CCRHSD in collaboration with the Benue State Primary Health Care Board (BPHCB), with support from UNICEF, has run an Out Patient Therapeutic (OTP) site for SAM cases in children, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. Malnourished children are treated with Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Feeds (RUTF) and women are given Multi Micronutrients Supplements (MMS) with enriched blended flour to boost their immunity and improve nutritional outcome. Caregivers also receive Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) education, food demonstrations, and peer support through mother-to-mother support groups to promote health and encourage affordable and locally available feeding practices. So far, 221 severely malnourished children below age 5 have been placed on RUTF and 101(46%) have been discharged because they are cured. Together, we are working to protect the health and dignity of displaced women and children, and advocating for a safer, more secure future for all.