The International Red Cross donated 4,117 cartons containing 600,500 packs of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) to Katsina State on December 29, 2025, bolstering the fight against a raging child malnutrition crisis amid MSF's alarms of 70,000 cases and 652 deaths earlier this year. State Secretary Bala Abdullahi-Hussaini announced distributions already reaching Bindawa, Zango, and Kankia LGAs via primary health care channels, targeting severe acute malnutrition in vulnerable kids.
Beyond RUTF, Red Cross trained Batsari, Jibia, Faskari, and Funtua communities on peacebuilding and resilience, equipping 850 beneficiaries including breastfeeding mothers and youths with skills tools while responding to cholera in four LGAs for 600+ people. Past efforts included ₦124m cash aid in 2021 and 500,000 COVID/diphtheria sensitizations, aligning with UNICEF's poverty pleas as 75% of Katsina children face deprivations.
Katsina's surge echoes MSF surveys showing doubled acute malnutrition rates (6.8-14.4% SAM) in key areas, with 90% households slashing meals amid funding cuts hitting WFP programs. Interventions counter insecurity displacements worsening Abuja waste perils and Edo kidnaps, as state-UNICEF ties eye national Masaki scaling.
Red Cross frames RUTF as life-saving amid "silent emergency" projections for 2025 catastrophe without scaled aid, paralleling Kebbi mill tragedies and Super Eagles' triumphs in chaotic national backdrop. Katsina's Atiku youth pledges underscore youth futures at risk in Nigeria's north.