In the aftermath of the blistering effects of Boko Haram attacks in the North East of Nigeria, hunger and starvation is killing people in large numbers.

According to research conducted by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), over 200 refugees displaced by Boko Haram attacks have starved to death in the last month in Bama.

The research was revealed by MSF, a medical humanitarian organisation on Wednesday.

MSF described the situation in Bama as a “catastrophic humanitarian emergency” after visiting the IDP camp where about 24,000 people have taken refuge.

According to the report, a lot of the people in the camp are disturbed and one in every 5 children is plagued with acute malnutrition while displaced people in the community disclosed that new graves are dug on a daily basis.

One of the inhabitants told MSF that an average of 30 people die daily due to hunger or sickness.

One of the agents of the agency arrived Bama on Tuesday with a military convoy from Maiduguri as protection.

According to MSF’s head of mission in Nigeria, Ghada Hatim, “For several hours on 21 June, an MSF medical team was able to access the town of Bama in northeastern Nigeria, where 24,000 people, including 15,000 children (among them 4,500 under five years of age) are sheltered in a camp located on a hospital compound. During those few hours, the MSF medical team discovered a health crisis – referring 16 severely malnourished children at immediate risk of death to the MSF in-patient therapeutic feeding centre in Maiduguri. A rapid nutritional screening of more than 800 children found that 19 percent were suffering from severe acute malnutrition – the deadliest form of malnutrition.”

“This is the first time MSF has been able to access Bama, but we already know the needs of the people there are beyond critical.”

“We are treating malnourished children in medical facilities in Maiduguri and see the trauma on the faces of our patients who have witnessed and survived many horrors.” he added.

During its assessment, the MSF team counted 1,233 cemetery graves located near the camp which had been dug in the past year. Of those graves, 480 were for children.

“Bama is largely closed off,” said Hatim.

“We have been told that people there, including children, have starved to death. According to the accounts given to MSF by displaced people in Bama, new graves are appearing on a daily basis. We were told on certain days more than 30 people were dying due to hunger and illness.”

MSF also discovered that since May 23, not less that 188 people have died in the camp – which is an average of 6 deaths per day.

The deaths are mainly from diarrhoea and malnutrition.