More than 1,200 people have died at an aid camp in northern Nigeria due to starvation and illness, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has revealed.
The camp houses people fleeing from the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
MSF said its team found around 24,000 people, including 15,000 children, sheltering in the camp located on a hospital compound during a visit to Bama in May – its first trip to the city since Nigerian authorities regained its control from Boko Haram in March 2015.
The city was part of an area that was held by the terror group for more than six months before being pushed out by the army.
MSF said “a catastrophic humanitarian emergency is currently unfolding” at the camp, adding that around a fifth of 800 children who underwent medical screening were acutely malnourished and that almost 500 children had died.
“We have been told that people including children there have starved to death,” Ghada Hatim, MSF head of mission in Nigeria, said. “We were told that on certain days more than 30 people have died due to hunger and illness.”
