KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Findings from the FMS revealed concerning consumption patterns in inaccessible areas as 68 percent of the interviewed households struggled to have sufficient food intake and 25 percent experienced crisis or higher levels (CH Phase 3 and above) of food deprivation and hunger, further evidenced in the pervasive use of food-based coping strategies in the month of September;
• More than two in every three households relied on either crisis (17 percent) or emergency (38 percent) coping strategies to meet their food needs, which heightens economic vulnerability due to the negative impact on future productivity of the most affected households;
• The levels of acute malnutrition among new arrivals from the inaccessible areas is Critical (Phase 4 IPC Acute Malnutrition Classification) with the overall Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates standing at 28.7 percent and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) at 11.9 percent. This high level of acute malnutrition indicates an extremely stressed population including food insecurity, poor sanitation and hygiene and health conditions which are the key underlying causes of acute malnutrition;
• LGAs with the highest malnutrition rates included Bama, Konduga, Magumeri, Madagali and Gwoza, with Bama LGA continuing to record high influx of IDPs who are arriving in very poor nutrition status, with global acute malnutrition rates of above 30 percent (Extremely Critical IPC AMN classification);
• The Crude and Under-five Mortality Rates were 3.98 and 6.71 deaths/10,000/day respectively. Both crude and under-five mortality rates were above emergency thresholds and illness constituted the main cause of death. Mortality data is currently undergoing further investigation to identify and rectify quality issues during the next FMS round;
• The elevated levels of consumption gaps, malnutrition, mortality and pervasive usage of emergency coping strategies, is largely underscored by limited availability of food stocks, restricted access to functional markets and water, health and sanitation services, which might heighten morbidity risk and impact households' ability to engage in labour for food or resource gathering