MSF worldwide work highlight (14/2 – 14/3/2013)

The Democratic Republic of Congo
Fighting between government forces and Mai-Mai militias in the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo has caused thousands of people to flee their homes. MSF outreach activities to the surrounding area have been affected by the fighting.

Haiti
A lack of funds and supplies has crippled cholera treatment programs in Haiti, leading to unnecessary deaths and increasing the risk of greater outbreaks during the upcoming rainy season.

MSF pointed out the priority today must be to strengthen the treatment centers and the early warning and rapid response systems.  

Mali
MSF has been working in eight camps in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger since March 2012, providing primary and maternal healthcare for and treating malnutrition in these vulnerable people. Nearly 12,000 consultations and 5,000 vaccinations have been carried out since the beginning of the year.

Mozambique
Recent floods in Mozambique’s Gaza province have devastated the city of Chokwe. In response, teams from MSF are bringing in extra staff and medical supplies, and working to get the health facilities up and running again.

Somalia
MSF continues to provide lifesaving medical care to hundreds of thousands of Somalis in ten regions of the country, as well as in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. In a report released on 13 Feb, MSF highlights violence, displacement and food shortages as salient features of Somalia’s humanitarian landscape.

Efforts underway at the United Nations to integrate humanitarian assistance into the international military campaign against opponents of Somalia’s government will further threaten humanitarian efforts, MSF warned on 28 Feb.

Medical activities have been halted at a clinic run by MSF in Xadaar, a neighbourhood of the Somali capital Mogadishu on 14 March. The clinic was opened in April 2012 and provided medical consultation to over 30,000 people, vaccinated 2,300 children against measles and other common childhood diseases and treated 556 children with severe malnutrition.

South Sudan
Following an attack in Akobo county in northern Jonglei state on 8 February, MSF treated 13 patients in two health facilities in neighbouring Upper Nile state.

MSF teams have just completed a preventive cholera vaccination campaign in and around the refugee camps in Maban County, South Sudan. 105,000 refugees and 27,500 residents of the area were vaccinated, with the aim of preventing possible cholera cases.

Syria
After two years of extremely violent conflict, the humanitarian situation in Syria is now catastrophic and the aid provided falls drastically short of what is needed. MSF has opened three hospitals in northern Syria and has treated 16000 patients and carried out 1300 surgical operations. MSF teams are also giving assistance to Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Turkey.