Francis Chartrand for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles

People of Darfur held hostage to political and judicial agendas

MSF calls upon Government of Sudan to repeal decision and allow vital assistance to people of Darfur to resume

This morning, the Sudanese authorities in Khartoum demanded the immediate expulsion of a second section of the international medical organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The decision, brutal and sudden, follows the expulsion Wednesday of another section of the organization. MSF is appalled by this order, which clearly holds the needs of the population of Darfur hostage to political and judicial agendas. The organization protests the order in the strongest of terms and appeals to the government to repeal these decisions and allow MSF to resume independent and impartial humanitarian assistance immediately.

“The order to expel MSF from Darfur is a dramatic turn of events that will have unprecedented consequences for the people of the region. Much of the population of Darfur is totally dependent on international humanitarian aid,” says Dr. Christophe Fournier, International President of MSF. “The sudden halt of our medical programs, including vital surgical, nutrition, and basic healthcare programs, in large areas of Darfur will have an immediate and devastating impact on the population.”

The vast needs of the population left unaddressed by the expulsion of so many aid organizations leaves a huge void in assistance, impossible for any remaining agency to adequately fulfill. The basic needs of hundreds of thousands of people will now go unmet, be they medical, food, water and sanitation. Outbreaks of meningitis in Kalma camp and Niertiti – where an estimated 130,000 people are in urgent need of vaccination – risk going completely unanswered.

The remaining sections of MSF working in Darfur are committed to continuing to provide medical care in the areas where they are working. However, this is a far cry from addressing the extent of the needs throughout Darfur.

“The ability to provide independent humanitarian assistance in Darfur has been drastically diminished over the past year, but the actions of the Government of Sudan this week risk to cut off humanitarian assistance for displaced and local populations in large areas of Darfur,” adds Christophe Fournier. “The needs of the population are falling prey to political and judicial ends, which is wholly unacceptable. We appeal to the government to immediately repeal its decision and allow for independent and impartial humanitarian assistance for the people in Darfur.”

MSF firmly reiterates that the organization is completely independent of the International Criminal Court and does not cooperate with or provide any information to it.

MSF has been working in Sudan since 1979 and in Darfur since 2003. While MSF has now been expelled from delivering critical healthcare in five areas of West and South Darfur, including Feina in Jebel Mara, Kalma, Muhajariya, Niertiti and Zalingei, MSF teams continue to provide care in West Darfur in Golo and Killin, and in North Darfur in Kebkabiya, Kaguro, Serif Umra, Shangil Tobaya and Tawila. Prior to the expulsion, more than 100 MSF international staff and approximately 1,625 MSF Sudanese staff worked tirelessly to deliver essential medical aid to hundreds of thousands of people throughout Darfur.

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Labels: Darfur, Doctors Without Borders, Iba Bouramine, Sudan

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 12:10 PM 0 Comments

After four weeks of forced absence, a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) team has been able to return to Muhajariya in South Darfur, Sudan, where an estimated 35,000 people have been affected by heavy fighting.

In mid-January, clashes between two rival rebel groups forced MSF to evacuate most of its medical team to Nyala, the regional capital, an estimated 80 kilometres away. During the first days of fighting the MSF base was completely destroyed by fire. The MSF clinic was untouched and has remained functional. MSF holds the respective rebel groups responsible for damage to MSF’s goods and premises, during the time those groups were in control of the town.

MSF has begun re-establishing full medical services. By the second day the team was back, the number of outpatients had already doubled. The international humanitarian organization plans to bring in more staff and to restore MSF clinics in the nearby areas of Labado and Um Shegeira.

MSF’s country director in Sudan, Reshma Adatia, currently in Muhajariya, says, “On arrival the newly installed Government of Sudan authorities in town welcomed the restart of our medical activities. We aim to have our services soon back to the same level as before we were forced to evacuate.”

In MSF’s absence people living in Muhajariya and its immediate surroundings have been directly affected by the violence. They were left without sufficient and urgently needed medical assistance and nutritional support. A small team of Sudanese MSF staff remained in Muhajariya and continued to provide basic services.

“It looks like more than half of the town has emptied. We do not exactly know where the people are, but we will try to follow up and assist where needed. It seems people fled rapidly into the harsh environment, with little or no time to assemble and carry provisions. We fear they urgently need assistance,” adds Adatia

Further north, MSF teams have seen an influx of newly displaced people. These people arrived at a camp around Al Fasher where MSF supports other organizations, giving medical assistance to the approximately 5,300 newly displaced people. Further south of Al Fashir, teams have distributed initial kits with basic non-food items to the roughly 1,000 people who had to leave behind all their belongings. As people continue to arrive in the region, MSF plans to continue distributions and to increase the provision of medical care.

Since July 2004, MSF has provided medical assistance in and around Muhajariya. In 2008 MSF provided more than 54,000 consultations in our inpatient and outpatient services, almost 6,500 women received maternity care and 300 babies have been delivered. The MSF nutrition program treated more than 1,000 children. In addition the team conducts mobile clinics in the nearby areas of Labado and Um Shegeira.

Around Al Fasher, North Darfur, MSF provides medical care to about 33,000 displaced people in the Shangil and Shadat camps and to surrounding villages.

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Labels: Anne Humphreys, Doctors Without Borders, Sudan

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 11:36 PM 0 Comments

Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) is preparing to work in all 15 displaced persons camps in and around the city of Vavuniya in Sri Lanka. The camps are home to about 30,000 people who have fled violence in the Vanni, in the northern part of the country. MSF is already distributing food and other basic relief goods in 10 camps. In Vavuniya hospital, an MSF surgeon has operated on 144 patients, assisting a team of local surgeons.

Food supplements

In the past week, more than 2,500 people have received food supplements in the camps. MSF distributes rations of a corn-soya blend, sugar and oil and is focussing on children under five, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. “People lived under dire conditions while still in the conflict zone, with little food for days on end. Now that they’re in a safer area, we need to give extra food to those people who need it most. These food supplements add an extra 500 calories to their daily diet, which does matter a lot in their situation,” explains MSF head of mission Annemarie Loof.

MSF is helping destitute families in immediate need of basic household and hygiene items. Most people left everything behind in the Vanni, having had to move every couple of days before they could cross the frontline into government-controlled territory.

More medical staff on stand-by

For the moment, the Ministry of Health provides medical care in the camps. To this end, the government has seconded doctors from several health facilities. However, this is a temporary solution only, putting pressure on other health structures. MSF has two doctors and two nurses ready to work in mobile clinics in the camps if more people arrive or in case the Ministry of Health requests further assistance.

144 surgeries in one week

In Vavuniya hospital, the main facility for emergency treatment in the area, 144 people were operated on last week. 107 of these patients needed surgery as a result of injuries sustained during the violence. An MSF surgeon is operating alongside two Sri Lankan counterparts working for the Ministry of Health. MSF is looking into supporting the Ministry of Health with an anesthesiologist and other medical staff. MSF also provided the hospital with 100 mattresses and bed linen, anticipating a new influx of patients.

Less people leaving conflict zone

Whereas the past two weeks saw an increase in civilians who managed to escape the conflict, their number has slowed down considerably in the last couple of days. MSF continues to seek urgent access to the 200,000 people in the Vanni, and urges both parties to the conflict to do their utmost to ensure the safety of civilians who remain trapped in the fighting.

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Labels: Doctors Without Borders, Noémie Cournoyer, Sri Lanka

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 11:28 PM 0 Comments

Nine out of ten children with HIV do not have access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs. Governments and donors need to be more ambitious in bringing existing pediatric HIV tests and drugs to the children who need them, says the medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). This lack of treatment is particularly threatening for babies who are born with the virus because half of them will die before their second birthday if untreated.

Labels: Children, Doctors Without Borders, Renata Daninsky

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 12:22 AM 0 Comments

In the region of Kirotshe, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the west of Goma, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is working on both sides of the front, supporting a referral hospital and conducting mobile clinics. In the Shasha camp for displaced people, MSF provides psychosocial assistance. Carmen Martinez, a psychologist working for MSF in the area, explains .

Carmen, can you describe the psychosocial activities in the Shasha camp?

We started a psychosocial program to help displaced people, as well as certain members of the resident population, to overcome the trauma they have suffered as a result of the war. This is a community program, namely a program using the community base, without “technicians.” I am the only psychologist. Last week, I trained 22 outreach workers. They are organized in six groups, which correspond to different sections of the camp. In addition to these group or community activities, there is a one-on-one component to the program, with individual consultations for those who have been most deeply affected.

In concrete terms, what do the outreach workers do?

They organize discussion groups, with a discussion theme. There are 60 to 80 people in each discussion group. During a session last week, the theme was health. Health in a global sense: physical, social and mental. Some people spoke about headaches, stomach aches, sleeping difficulties. Others experience a sense of isolation. Today, we talked about the population’s concerns. We tried to identify the events that marked them. They spoke to us about their fear of going into the fields to grow crops, their fear of dying. They recalled their flight as something very sudden. We tried to find some tools that would help them overcome this situation. For example, having spokespeople to gather information about community needs. Or using traditional practices such as rituals.

What do the individual interviews involve?

In addition to social motivation, there is also individual counselling. Two people have been
trained to work with me as psychosocial counsellors. A counselling session takes place much like a medical consultation, where we try to identify the most important problems, recent events they have experienced, or very intense life experiences. First we deal with the physical and mental reactions, by allowing the person to express what they’ve gone through. One session was with a demobilized soldier. In other words, he had left the armed group to return to civil life. He spoke about flash-backs, night terrors, nightmares, intense emotions at night when he hears the slightest sound. He said he was afraid to leave his home. In fact, through this behaviour, he was avoiding a situation that could remind him about something he had lived through. There are many similar examples among the displaced people.

What are living conditions like in the camp?

Here, in the Shasha camp, there are approximately 4,300 displaced people. Some of these people are also in foster families. They left everything behind them, families were separated. At Shasha, about 20 children are unaccompanied, most because we don’t know where their parents are. People have also told me that armed men have stolen their belongings. On Oct. 27, everyone quickly evacuated the Shasha camp to go to Minova, farther south. Once the area was secure enough for them to return, everything had been pillaged. They have almost nothing; they received a few blankets, plastic sheets, buckets. Their huts are very small. The hygiene conditions in the camp are abominable. It’s important for us to insist on basic hygiene and health promotion measures. Some of the discussion groups, for example, focus on hygiene.

How can people get over such traumatizing experiences?

Together with the patient, we have to find mechanisms that still work well. For example, the ability to confide in someone or, for some people, to be with their whole family, etc. The demobilized soldier I spoke about told me he was still able to work at least, that he could go into the field occasionally. During individual counselling we identify these positive points and we come to an agreement about what we can do together. We have to make them understand their reactions are normal and that they are a response to events that are not normal.

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Labels: Congo, Doctors Without Borders, Noémie Cournoyer

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 12:02 AM 0 Comments

Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) medical teams are struggling to provide free quality emergency care to pregnant women and their babies in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In the last month, hundreds of women have desperately sought emergency obstetric care at Jude-Anne hospital in Port-au-Prince. In October, the hospital staff assisted a record high of 56 women giving birth in one day and received 160 women waiting for hospitalization. The hospital has been so overwhelmed by demand that mothers have given birth in the hospital’s waiting room, the staircases and in the washrooms: basically anywhere they could find space. For this 60-bed emergency hospital (including 5 delivery beds) with an average rate of 35 births a day (1000 births a month), this is an untenable situation.

The overwhelming number of patients at Jude-Anne hospital is the result of several factors. The most critical being the repeated hospital strikes in the capital. For example, the government’s central hospital in Port-au-Prince, an important referral center for pregnant women who do not have complications in their pregnancies, has been on strike for the past 3 weeks, with no end in sight.

“If the situation continues I am afraid women and children will die as a result. Hospitals must accept patients and give free maternal care immediately or the situation will become catastrophic. I urge the government and its donors to reinforce the implementation of free obstetric services without delay,” explains Head of mission Hans van Dillen.

Haiti has the highest maternal mortality rate in the Western hemisphere. Despite the Ministry of Health receiving funding in February 2008 to implement a free obstetric care program in the country, a system of cost recovery continues. Babies and mothers are dying unnecessarily partially because authorities are too slow to apply the free program and some hospitals are too reluctant to implement it.

MSF is extremely worried by the impact of the strikes on the access to care for pregnant women, and urges the Ministry of Health to immediately implement the promised free obstetric care program to help save the lives of mothers and babies.

MSF in Haiti

In the capital Port-au-Prince, MSF provides emergency obstetric care in Jude Anne hospital; organises mobile clinics in the slums of Martissant, Pelé Simon, La Saline and Solino; offers emergency and stabilization care in Martissant hospital; and provides trauma care and physiotherapy in La Trinité and Pacot hospitals, including counseling for victims of sexual violence. North of the capital, in the Gonaives, MSF set up a water and sanitation program and mobile clinics, and manages an 80-bed hospital to provide emergency, maternity and pediatric care, in response to the destruction caused by tropical storms and hurricanes.

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Labels: Doctors Without Borders, Haiti, Iba Bouramine

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 12:43 AM 0 Comments

In Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is responding to a massive outbreak of cholera, which the local Ministry of Health has declared “the biggest ever in Harare.” MSF has set up cholera treatment centres in Budiriro Polyclinic and in Harare Infectious Diseases Hospital, where 500 patients have been treated to date and, on average, 38 new patients are admitted every day.

About 78 per cent of the patients come from two densely populated suburbs in the south west of Harare, Budiriro and Glen View. They have a combined population of approximately 300,000 people. The outbreak has also affected people from the neighbouring suburbs of Mbare, Kambuzuma, Kwanzana and Glen Norah. Up to 1.4 million people are in danger if the outbreak continues to spread.

Since asked to assist with the outbreak in Harare, MSF has been providing human, medical and logistic resources at both treatment centres. Amongst a growing team of more than 40 Zimbabwean staff are nurses, logisticians, chlorinators, and environmental health workers. The latter perform an important role in reducing the spread of cholera in the community by disinfecting the homes of those affected, following up contacts of patients and supervising funerals, where the traditional practice of body washing, followed by hand shaking and eating, is a significant factor in the spread of cholera.

Medical teams overwhelmed

MSF water and sanitation officer Precious Matarutse comments on the situation: “At Budiriro cholera treatment centre things are getting out of hand. There are so many patients that the nurses are overwhelmed. In the observation area one girl died sitting on a bench. The staff is utilising each and every available room and still in the observation area patients are lying on the floor. A man came to the clinic yesterday for treatment. His wife had just died at home and that is what made his relatives realise this is serious, and they brought the man to the clinic. They wanted to know what to do with the wife’s body. People are concerned about catching cholera from others. Health education must be intensified to inform the population.”

The challenges MSF teams face in the treatment centres are many. Vittorio Varisco, an MSF logistician, describes the struggle: “It is a constant challenge to keep up with increasing patient numbers. We are running out of ward space and beds for the patients. Today patients at the Infectious Diseases Hospital are lying outside on the grass and we are setting up tents with additional beds as an overflow for the wards.”

MSF doctor Bauma Ngoya explains how vital human resources are in order to effectively treat patients and contain the outbreak: “Patients need constant supervision to ensure adequate hydration, without which they will die. As patient numbers continue to increase we must continue to recruit and train nursing staff.”

New urgency

Cholera is not a new phenomenon in crisis-shaken Zimbabwe. In some of the rural areas of the country cholera is endemic and occurs every year. However, until recent years cholera was relatively rare in urban areas of the country where treated, piped water and flush toilets exist in most homes. With the ongoing economic crisis and the constantly deteriorating living conditions these urban areas are more and more affected. The disease is water-borne and transmitted by the oral-faecal route; hence it thrives in unsanitary conditions.

Run-down infrastructure, burst sewage pipes and water cuts are mainly responsible for the outbreak, as they force people to dig unprotected wells and to defecate in open spaces. During the rainy season from November to March, heavy rains effectively flush standing sewage into unprotected wells. The fact that the recent outbreaks of cholera have commenced before the rains are a clear indication of the deteriorating sanitary conditions and shortage of clean water, and a worrying precursor to the rainy season.

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Labels: Doctors Without Borders, Noémie Cournoyer, Zimbabwe

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 12:19 AM 0 Comments

As fighting in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo is making the headlines, the neighbouring district of Haut-Uele is also affected by violence. Rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) are terrorizing people, looting, burning villages, abducting children and killing adults. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) went to the town of Dungu, which was attacked by the rebels on Nov. 1, to assess the needs of the population. An MSF medical team has now been active in Dungu since Nov. 10.

J. (name withheld) is a carpenter working in the convent in Duru, a village many hours walking distance from Dungu. J. has a wife and five children and also cares for a young niece. He told a member of the MSF team what happened to his family. His story illustrates the distress suffered by civilians who fall prey to the rebels’ brutality and have to flee their villages.

It all started around 1 p.m. I had just finished cutting a cluster of palm nuts some 250 metres away from the market and the convent and was just about to get back when a child from the village gestured in my direction warning me not to get closer. According to him, the LRA had surrounded the mission and had even abducted children from the secondary classes.

I immediately went home and got the six children and my wife together, as our neighbour was away I took his four children too and we fled to the bush, two kilometres away from the village. There we stayed two days, next to our plot. We could feed on beans and aubergines that I got from our field and that my wife cooked in empty cans as we didn’t have any saucepan.

A boy who had been captured by the LRA but had managed to escape after three days joined us. He said that the LRA had left the village at around 3 a.m. and had crossed the river. Together with our neighbour who had joined us in the bush, we decided to return to the village to see what had happened and also to get some essential utensils. It was quite distressful to see that my entire compound had been burned down: the three small huts, the straw hut, the kitchen and the goats’ shed. Everything had been burned down. My six goats were lying on the ground, shot dead.

“My neighbour decided to cross the forest into Sudan with his family”

Overcoming our pain we rapidly cut up a goat and shared it between us. I added the rest of two burnt chickens and carried the lot on my back, returning to our hiding place.

My neighbour decided to cross the forest into Sudan with his family. As for us, as my wife didn’t want to go to this country which she doesn’t know, we decided to go the next day to Dungu where we have relatives.

The next day, a Sunday, we set out for Dungu at around 4 p.m. to get to Kpaika, a village, the same day. When we got to Kpaika my eight-year old son had swollen legs after this long walk, so we decided to rest for the night in the chapel and to leave early the next morning. Around 4 a.m. we were woken up by gunshots and people screaming. We fled – my wife put our youngest daughter on her back and carried our eight-year old son, I grabbed our three-year old son. My wife fell into a hole, so I put the toddler down on the ground to help her get out. That’s when an LRA soldier spotted us and gave chase. I barely managed to get my wife out of the hole and to flee with her. I then realized, too late, that I had left the toddler behind and I could hear him scream, but it was too late, impossible to turn back without risking to get caught, all of us.

A miracle

From the forest, where we hid, we tried to get some news. People said that many had been killed in Kpaika. Around 11 a.m. it was completely silent. We then heard the faint noise of leaves being trampled by many people. We approached carefully and saw that the noise was coming from the road, where many people were fleeing. We asked everyone if they had seen a little boy, alone on the road. Eventually, someone told us that he had seen an LRA soldier carrying our son on his back. This news drove us to despair.

My wife and I decided to save the remaining five children by taking them away as quickly as possible, knowing that by doing so we were getting ever further away from the little one. So we joined the flow of fleeing people and arrived in Kiliwa on Tuesday. Then, through some miracle we learned in Kiliwa that our little boy had been freed, that a well-meaning person had taken care of him and was taking him to Dungu.

We spent the night outside under a mango tree on the road side, dehydrated and exhausted, but with a lighter heart when thinking of our son, hoping he might already be on his way. We left Kiliwa at around 4 a.m. and walked all day. We reached Dungu after 6 p.m. We were given refuge by the priests and we have been with them for four days now. We’re waiting for our little one.

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Labels: Congo, Doctors Without Borders, Marie-Êve Marineau

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 11:48 PM 0 Comments

MSF continues to deliver medical care and to distribute basic relief supplies to displaced people in and around Tbilisi. A large number of them are already trying to go back to their hometowns while others are receiving assistance from different organizations.

The MSF medical team begins the day by visiting a kindergarten which has been converted into a centre for displaced people. It is located in an outlying suburb of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. Kindergarten N°9 currently houses 70 people. But before the Russian forces started their retreat towards South Ossetia following the ceasefire between Russia and Georgia, there were 113 people staying there. Some men have already gone back to their villages to see if a permanent return is possible.

The director of the kindergarten quickly finds a room so that the MSF team can give consultations. No other medical aid has been provided up until now. Mothers come with their children, and there are also elderly people. Nino, a young pregnant woman, wants to see a doctor. Since she left Mereti, her village in the separatist province of South Ossetia, this young Georgian woman has not been examined. Eight months pregnant, there is the possibility she could deliver prematurely. These last weeks have been trying. When fighting broke out on 8 August, she fled Ossetia with her three-year-old daughter. For several days, she had no news of her husband until he was able to join her in Tbilisi. Her daughter is still afraid. “She wakes up in the night when she hears the noise of a plane,” explains Nino. “She thinks that the bombings are starting again.”

In general however, the children are at ease in this new environment. There is a playground in the courtyard, there are some toys. All the families receive food and washing detergent. The only things missing are diapers for the babies, and the MSF team will bring them this afternoon.

However, the conditions are clearly more difficult in a large four-floor building, 100 metres away from the kindergarten. When the displaced families came to this building, a former cardiology institute, there was no water or electricity. The offices were cluttered with laboratory equipment. “We have done everything ourselves,” explains one man. “We have connected plastic pipes so that there is water in a few sinks and toilets and we’ve also connected the electricity.” As for food, supply remains uncertain. From time to time, the 92 people who are living there receive some bread and some sausages as well as rations which are supplied by other organizations.

After being informed about this situation, the MSF team begins its consultations, mainly for women, children and the elderly. The doctors have brought a supply of drugs with them and give the necessary medication to the patients. But they will have to come back in the afternoon to distribute hygiene kits to all the families (soap, washing detergent, buckets, toothpaste) and some kits for babies.

On August 14, the MSF teams began going to the areas in Tbilisi where the displaced people were staying to deliver medical aid. This was their first visit to this particular area. But they will return regularly to all the sites to do follow-up medical care. This is especially important for people with chronic illnesses, in order that they will be able to continue their treatment.

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Labels: Doctors Without Borders, Georgia, Marie-Êve Marineau, Russia

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 12:02 AM 0 Comments

After Hurricane Gustav made landfall last week, Tropical Storm Hanna caused serious damage to Haiti’s coastline on September 1 and September 2. Many towns are flooded and remain difficult, if not impossible, to access.

According to authorities, 25,000 to 30,000 houses were destroyed and up to 500 people have died nationwide. People have very little access to food and clean water, and major crops have been destroyed.

On Thursday, September 4, an MSF team of eight medical and non-medical personnel arrived in Gonaïves to clean out the Rabouteau Health Center, the only working structure (out of four health centers and one hospital) after the floods. Thanks to the support of the local population, MSF was able to clean the facility, supply medicine, and restart the operating room. On September, 5, MSF performed 110 consultations, treated 49 injured people and carried out 16 surgical procedures.

On Saturday people started fleeing the city by the thousands to seek refuge, after authorities warned of the arrival of Hurricane Ike. The Rabouteau Health Center MSF is supporting remains the only working health structure in the town.

A critical concern is the lack of access to clean water for the city’s inhabitants. All the local sources of water were contaminated as a result of the flooding. This concern is compounded by the fact that most of the local medical staff have fled the area.

MSF has not been able to reach many areas of the city given the flooding, making it difficult to properly assess the scope of needs of the population.

An MSF physician went on Saturday to Saint Michel de l’Atalaye, where 400 people have been stranded without food or water for five days. MSF brought one child to Gonaïves for surgical care and distributed food and water from the World Food Program.

A three-person MSF team went to Cap Haïtien to assess the emergency response capacities and establish local contacts to help immediately assess needs in aftermath of Hurricane Ike. MSF teams have not been able to reach many of the flooded areas on the eastern side of the community. Hospitals and health structures are reported to have been seriously damaged in this area.

Today the flooded areas between Gonaïves, Port de Paix, and Cap Haïtien cannot be reached while towns like Enry or Gros Morne, which were strongly affected by Hanna, have not received any assistance. MSF is still pushing to gain access to these areas, though the coming hurricane might limit their ability to reach these areas.

Existing MSF activities in Port-au-Prince are continuing. The organization provides medical and surgical care at La Trinité trauma centre; emergency obstetrical care in Jude Anne Hospital; and emergency health-care services and essential health services through mobile clinics in the Martissant slum. A mobile clinic team went to the La Saline slum earlier this week.

Ike, a category four hurricane, has now reached Haiti’s neighborhood and rains have started again.

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Labels: Doctors Without Borders, Haiti, Noémie Cournoyer

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 11:49 PM 0 Comments

At least 65 people were wounded in shooting early this morning in Kalma Camp in Darfur, Sudan. They were admitted to a clinic run by Médecins Sans Frontières. Kalma Camp is home to more than 90,000 people, and is one of the largest camps for displaced people in Darfur.

MSF is currently evacuating 47 patients from the clinic to a hospital in Nyala, about 17 km away. More than half of the patients admitted to the clinic are women and children.

Today’s shooting follows weeks of increasing tension in and around Kalma Camp. In recent weeks, around 6,000 families have been displaced by flooding. There has also been a shortage of clean drinking water due to a lack of fuel to run the pumps.

MSF has worked in Kalma Camp since May 2004. Staff run an outpatient department and a women's health centre. A mental health program addresses the profound psychosocial stress and trauma experienced by the population. The MSF team also responds to the emergency needs of new arrivals as needed.

Labels: Doctors Without Borders, Iba Bouramine, Sudan

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 12:00 PM 0 Comments

Fighting has calmed in and around the breakaway region of South Ossetia, and the warring parties have reached a ceasefire agreement. The short, violent conflict has displaced a lot of people in Georgia, South Ossetia and the Northern Caucasus region of Russia.

As of 20 August, MSF is still unable to access South Ossetia, the area where the conflict had broken out, in order to conduct an independent needs assessment and provide medical and humanitarian aid to the population if necessary. Our teams are negotiating with the authorities to gain unimpeded secure access to the region.

In the last three days in Georgia, MSF assessed camps for displaced persons in and around the city of Tbilisi, where around 20 settlements have been established, and in the city of Gori. In the 10 camps that MSF visited so far, hundreds of people were living in public buildings, lacking water and basic sanitation. MSF is providing basic relief supplies and medical care through mobile teams in eight of these camps, serving over 3,200 displaced people. Our teams will continue visiting other camps in the region.

An MSF team working in the western Georgian city of Zugdidi also conducted assessments in the sea port city of Poti, and in another coastal region, Adjaria. MSF found that the local health authorities were coping with the situation, but is ready to provide assistance if needed.
MSF continues to treat multi-drug resistant TB through programmes in Sukhumi (Abkhazia) and Zugdidi (Western Georgia). MSF is concerned that some of the patients in the Zugdidi programme were forced to interrupt their treatment during the acute phase of the conflict, which can have adverse effects on their illness. Since multi-drug resistant TB is a highly contagious illness, an interruption in treatment also poses a risk to those around them.

Thousands of refugees from South Ossetia have crossed the border with Russia fleeing violence, and have been accommodated by local authorities in the regions bordering South Ossetia. MSF has visited several refugee camps set up in public buildings, such as schools and sanatoria, in the regions of North Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria. Immediate needs were being addressed by local authorities and strong community support.

MSF has donated hygiene items and toys at two sites in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria, where 350 people, around 200 of them children, have found refuge. The organization remains ready to render further assistance to the population, as needed.

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Labels: Doctors Without Borders, Noémie Cournoyer

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 8:03 PM 0 Comments