Over 25 million people in Sudan face a humanitarian crisis, while children in northern Nigeria suffer from noma, a disfiguring and often fatal disease directly linked to extreme poverty and severe malnutrition. This systemic neglect of public health infrastructure across Africa highlights the human cost of an economic order that prioritizes capital accumulation over human life.
Ibrahim Dalhatu, now 8, underwent his first facial reconstructive surgery five years ago in 2021 at Nigeria's Noma Children Hospital in Sokoto state, one of only two such facilities in the entire country. He has endured six operations to recover from noma, a rapidly progressing infection that destroys facial tissues and bones, primarily affecting malnourished children in polluted environments. The World Health Organisation (WHO) classifies noma as a neglected tropical disease, acknowledging its severe impact despite receiving little global attention or funding. WHO data on noma hasn't been updated since 1998, when it estimated 140,000 cases annually with a 90% fatality rate. A study published two months ago in July 2026, relying on Sokoto hospital data, reported over 50,000 noma cases across 12 northern Nigerian states between 1999 and 2024.
The Cost of Capital's Neglect
Experts identify extreme poverty and severe malnutrition as the major risk factors for noma, with the WHO explicitly calling it “a marker of absolute poverty.” The United Nations Human Rights Council states that the conditions leading to noma constitute a human rights violation for affected children. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) carries out free multi-stage operations, a critical intervention in one of the world's poorest regions, where parents like Muhammad Dalhatu, Ibrahim's father, express relief at avoiding treatment costs. Nigeria reports more noma cases than other countries, according to WHO's Yuka Makino, largely due to its specialist hospitals and a government-led response that ensures more cases are reported, rather than a lower incidence elsewhere.
State Failure and False Solutions
Despite the clear link between poverty and disease, neither Nigeria's federal Ministry of Health nor the Sokoto state ministry responded to requests for comment on plans to combat noma. This silence underscores the state's abdication of responsibility for its most vulnerable citizens. More than 500 children with noma were treated at the Sokoto specialist hospital within the last three years, between 2023 and 2025, while others wait for surgery. Maryam Sabiu's 4-year-old son, infected in 2024, remains on a waiting list, too young for surgery, enduring constant pain and stigmatization. His mother described the public's stares as “one of the worst experiences in my entire life.”
Labor and the Dispossessed Pay the Price
The crisis extends beyond noma. Across African Union member states in 2023, nearly 178,600 women died from pregnancy and childbirth-related causes, representing 69 percent of the estimated 260,000 maternal deaths worldwide. An estimated 1.18 million newborns die annually in these states, over half of the global total. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) review, released 14 days ago on September 9, 2026, found that maternal mortality declined by 42 percent between 2000 and 2023, but this rate is far too slow to meet the Sustainable Development Goal target of fewer than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030. At the current rate, the ratio would still be about 330 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2030, nearly five times the target.
The Africa CDC assessment identifies delays in receiving appropriate care, shortages of medicines and blood, staffing gaps, and weak referral systems as contributing factors to these deaths. Between 58 and 96 percent of maternal deaths were estimated to be avoidable. West Africa bears the heaviest burden, with 682 deaths per 100,000 live births, accounting for 55 percent of maternal deaths on the continent.
During the current session of the United Nations General Assembly, the WHO announced it would engage heads of state to raise awareness and advance “shared solutions.” Kenya's “Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere Acceleration Plan for 2026–2028” proposes investing Sh12.5 billion in maternal and newborn health, including funds for nurses and commodities. Medical Services Principal Secretary Ouma Oluga stated that maternal and newborn survival is a “shared responsibility across government.” These reform efforts, while acknowledging the crisis, operate within the existing framework of underfunded public services and fail to address the fundamental economic structures that create such widespread poverty and health disparities.
Similarly, the WHO Regional Office for Africa launched a new manual this month, September 2026, to help primary health care workers detect suspected breast cancer earlier. Over 70% of breast cancer cases in the African Region are detected at a late stage, limiting treatment options. The manual aims to strengthen frontline workers' ability to recognize warning signs and facilitate referrals, particularly in “resource-constrained settings.” However, it does not address the systemic lack of organized, population-based mammography screening programs or the financial constraints that delay access to care for six months or longer after symptoms emerge. These initiatives manage the symptoms of a broken system rather than confronting the underlying economic exploitation that starves public health.