Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), a humanitarian medical organisation, has raised concern over worsening health and humanitarian conditions in northwestern Nigeria.
MSF warned that the rainy season is driving deadly outbreaks of diseases such as malaria, cholera, typhoid, and acute malnutrition across vulnerable communities in Zamfara State.
The organization, in a statement on Monday by Sani Adamu, Nursing Activity Manager at MSF hospital in Zamfara, said the annual rains, which usually begin between May and September, have become a “season of death” for many families already displaced and impoverished by years of armed violence and insecurity.
It further highlighted flooding, stagnant water, poor sanitation and overcrowded living conditions as the major factors spreading infectious diseases, while worsening food shortages and limited access to healthcare continue to expose thousands of residents to preventable deaths.
“The rainy season affects the way we see patients. It increases the risks and transmission of many diseases, like malaria, cholera, and other acute watery diarrheal diseases,” said Adamu.
Adamu further explained that stagnant floodwater creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes, causing malaria cases to surge, while contaminated water sources contribute to outbreaks of cholera, typhoid fever, and other waterborne illnesses.
“In places where sanitation is poor and water sources are unsafe, any contamination can spread quickly. Flooding washes waste, garbage, and faecal matter into water sources, spreading water-borne diseases. Children play in this water, households use it, and people fall sick,” he said.
According to MSF, in 2025 alone, the organization treated 136,778 malaria patients and 13,877 cholera cases in Zamfara State.
It also highlighted the growing burden of typhoid-related complications, especially among children, citing the case of Auwalu Biliya from Shinkafi Local Government Area, who developed severe typhoid complications after consuming contaminated food and water.
“We took him to the hospital in Shinkafi. We were told his intestines had been affected,” his grandmother, Rakiya Usman, told MSF.
According to MSF, Auwalu was later referred to an MSF-supported General Hospital in Zurmi for emergency surgery after suffering intestinal perforation, a severe complication linked to untreated typhoid fever.
“Early treatment is crucial. When treatment is delayed, the intestine can perforate, a severe condition where the intestine ruptures. At that stage, complications can be fatal, and surgery is the only option,” Adamu further explained.
The organisation also warned that the rainy season coincides with the annual lean season, when food supplies are reduced, and malnutrition rates rise sharply.
MSF further disclosed it treated 60,566 malnourished children in Zamfara in 2025, stressing that children under 15 and pregnant women remain the most vulnerable.
It also expressed concern over worsening access to healthcare in conflict-affected communities, highlighting insecurity, flooded roads, damaged bridges and the high cost of transportation as major barriers preventing residents from accessing timely treatment.
The organization said it currently operates or supports four healthcare facilities across northern Nigeria to manage seasonal disease outbreaks and malnutrition cases.
It called for urgent preventive measures, including improved access to clean water and sanitation, stronger vaccination campaigns, and better-equipped healthcare facilities to reduce illness and mortality during the rainy season.
MSF further reiterated the need to adhere to preventive action before and during rainy season, stressing that most of the illnesses and deaths during the rainy season are preventable.