MSF cargo plane with full hospital and staff blocked from landing in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Despite guarantees, given by the United Nations and the US Defense Department, an MSF cargo plane carrying an inflatable surgical hospital was blocked from landing in Port-au-Prince on Saturday, and was re-routed to Samana, in Dominican Republic. A second MSF plane is currently on its way and scheduled to land today in Port- au-Prince at around 10 am local time with additional lifesaving medical material and the rest of the equipment for the hospital. If this plane is also rerouted then the installation of the hospital will be further delayed, in a situation where thousands of wounded are still in need of life saving treatment.
We take you to northern Nigeria, where MSF is providing surgery to repair fistulas – life-altering internal injuries that can happen to women who endure prolonged, complicated labor. In Burkina Faso, malnutrition is at its annual peak and MSF is responding.We’ll hear from an MSF doctor who was there at the same time last year. You’ll also hear emergency updates from MSF projects around the world.
Conditions in Haiti remain dire for the people trying to reclaim their lives. One month after the last hurricane ripped through, roads are still barely usable, still covered with flood waters that are now reduced to a toxic sludge of oils and other pollutants.
"We lose 80 percent of the water from the reservoir every day, which is way too much," said Riguelle Gilles of MSF.
While flood waters in Gonaives have mostly receded, some parts of the devastated town remain inaccessible and many people have not had access to healthcare, clean water, and food for 15 days.
An MSF team continues to support the Raboteau Health Center in Gonaives where more than 1,000 consultations have been carried out to date. The five-person team has treated 250 wounded people and carried out 20 minor and major surgical procedures there.
More and more people are now presenting with pathologies consistent with flooded conditions, including diarrhea, respiratory infections, and skin diseases.
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