Surviving Boko Haram: why children under five matter

The document highlights a critical lack of accurate health and mortality data for children under five in areas affected by Boko Haram in Nigeria and Cameroon. It identifies severe malnutrition, interrupted vaccination schedules, and psychological trauma as primary consequences of the conflict. The author argues that current counter-terrorism strategies often ignore or actively undermine child development, and recommends funding targeted research, empowering local community-based organisations, and ensuring the rights of children are upheld during security operations.

• The Boko Haram insurgency has caused widespread malnutrition and exposure to physical and psychological illnesses among children under five in Nigeria and Cameroon.
• Efforts to understand and respond to the crisis are hindered by insecurity, the inaccessibility of affected regions, and poor coordination of information.
• There is a significant gap between counter-terrorism operations and child development goals, with some security practices actively harming children, such as the detention of children under five in Nigeria's Giwa barracks.
• Insecurity has severely disrupted healthcare access, leading to a 24.8% reduction in vaccination coverage in Nigeria and a 2016 polio outbreak despite the country being declared polio-free in 2015.
• Malnutrition is pervasive in the affected regions; in north-east Nigeria, UNICEF reported at least 900,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in 2018, while chronic malnutrition affects 40% of children in Cameroon's Far North.
• The conflict's impact on child health creates a long-term risk of socioeconomic underdevelopment, which can in turn increase susceptibility to radicalisation and recruitment into terrorism.

APA

Yenwong-Fai, U. (2019). Surviving Boko Haram: why children under five matter. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-129.PDF

Chicago

Yenwong-Fai, Uyo. Surviving Boko Haram: why children under five matter. Institute for Security Studies, 2019. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-129.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Yenwong-Fai |first1=Uyo |title=Surviving Boko Haram: why children under five matter |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=2019 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-129.PDF |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yenwongfai2019surviving, author = {Yenwong-Fai, Uyo}, title = {{Surviving Boko Haram: why children under five matter}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2019}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-129.PDF}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }