The ongoing humanitarian crisis in North East Nigeria, driven by the Boko Haram insurgency and the counter-insurgency operations by government and security forces, has left 7.9 million people1 in need of humanitarian assistance. Of these, more than 1.8 million are internally displaced. Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) States host the highest proportion of internally displaced persons, 54 per cent of them female.2 The current situation in the most conflictaffected states (the BAY states) presents a major challenge to efforts to mitigate the impact and spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Nigeria. This is due to pre-existing vulnerabilities as well as overcrowded settlements inside and outside internally displaced person (IDP) camps, which make social distancing almost impossible.