Nigeria, Aug. 10 -- In Awe, a rural community in Nasarawa State, north-central Nigeria, Salamatu Madaki flips through a register in search of the names of malnourished children. It's the middle of the year, and the numbers in her care as the local government's nutrition coordinator tell a story she wishes she could rewrite before the year ends.

"We feed our children three times a day, but it's just carbohydrates," she told PREMIUM TIMES. "No vegetables, no beans, no meat. Mostly pap in the morning, yams in the afternoon, fufu at night."

Even those plain meals are becoming unaffordable. Between December 2024 and May 2025, cases of severe acute malnutrition in Awe jumped from 64 to 86. Moderate cases also increased, from 28 to 32, accordi...