Project Update - 9 Sep 2016

There are an estimated 15,000 people in Bama camp – most of these people are women and children under the age of five. People are living inside a camp surrounded by the Nigerian army. Boko Haram fighters are stationed a few killometres away from Bama camp, the town is empty, and it is like a ghost town. The only people who remain in Bama are inside the camp.

We returned to Bama on August 17th to carry out our emergency response. We reached a total number of 3,293 children under the age of five. We treated 513 malnourished children (4.2% have severe malnutrition and 10.9% have moderate malnutrition).
Our operational aim was to reduce morbidity and mortality among children under the age of five by providing treatment and food for one month.
We took Non Food Items (mosquito nets, soap), therapeutic food for malnourished children (plumpy nut) and a food blanket ration targeting malnourished children’s household (oil, emergency food, rations and beans).
We started our distribution at 7am and there were people as far we could see. There were lines and lines of women and children. We screened the children for malnutrition as we distributed the items.
Our operation strategy is to return to Bama every month for the next two months.

There is an Outpatient clinic run by the Ministry of Health and UNICEF but very few patients go to the clinic because there are not enough medicines there. In addition the Nigerian Air Force opened few days ago an hospital in front of the camp’s entrance.

Most people in the camp live in make shift corrugated iron shelters – with sheets of metal not offering much protection against the rain or elements.
Now some people have plastic sheeting on their shelters and tents but there are no windows so it’s very hot inside these shelters and they’re not sustainable. There is also an issue around water. There isn’t enough water for the number of people in the camp. here is nine bore holes in the camp and only seven are functioning, this is not covering the needs of the 15,000 people in the camp.

Nigeria

Malnutrition is the biggest problem in Bama

Interview with MSF project coordinator Hakim Khaldi Voices from the Field - 7 Sep 2016

South Sudan

Patient story - Nyajuba

Nya is one of the 201 patients who received surgery from MSF following the recent clashes in South Sudan, 54 of which were major operations. Voices from the Field - 5 Sep 2016

An MSF team is installing solar panels on the roof of Shamwana hospital, to make sure electricity remains on in the hospital and keeps the cold chain running. The sustainable and environmentally friendly solution will replace approximately 1,000
litres of diesel per month.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Lights off... and on again! Solar energy for a sustainable Shamwana

Project Update - 5 Sep 2016

Humanitarian challenges

Saving Lives and Staying Alive

In Saving Lives and Staying Alive, the authors look at the drivers of the professionalisation of humanitarian security and its impact on humanitarian practices, with a specific focus on Syria, the Central African Republic and kidnapping in the Caucasus. Book - 5 Sep 2016

Haiti

Much work remains to improve access to healthcare

Project Update - 1 Sep 2016

This baby girl was born premature at 30 weeks, about 7 weeks to early. She weighed 1860 grams and had to be resuscitated, she had amniotic fluid in her lungs. She is the 6th daughter of her mother Veronique Francil (36), and she was delivered through a c-section. Veronique says she was sterilized at her own request when they performed the c-section. Her husband decided this. He would like to have a son, but thinks she should stop trying to have babies. Veronique is afraid he will now find a new wife.

Website

MSF Paediatric Days

MSF Paediatric Days is an annual event for paediatric field staff, policy makers and academia to exchange ideas, align efforts, inspire and share frontline research to advance urgent paediatric issues of direct concern for the humanitarian field. paediatrics.msf.org/

Twice a day MSF organizes a health promotion in the VVF (Vesico-Vaginal Fistula)
camp of Shamwana. The "village" as it is called is a temporary institution in
Tanganyika province, in southern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where women are
being operated in order to repair their fistulas. Through singing and dancing health
messages are passed on to the forty women and their caretakers, who are also
involved as well and support the health promotion acoustically.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Vesico vaginal fistula camp living with dignity in solidarity

In July and August 2016, MSF organised a fistula camp in Shamwana, where 40 women received operations to repair their fistulas. Project Update - 31 Aug 2016

The most recent drugs used to tackle DR TB were strong antibiotics developed in the 1940s, and the combination of pills, powders and injections frequently have severe mental and physical side effects.

Medical resource

MSF Medical Product Qualification Scheme

MSF Qualification Scheme MSF medical resource - 30 Aug 2016

rVSV-EBOV experimental vaccine against Ebola.

Ebola and haemorrhagic fevers

The Ebola clinical trials: a precedent for research ethics in disasters

MSF's Research Unit on Humanitarian Stakes and Practices (UREPH) is pleased to announce the publication of the article "The Ebola clinical trials: a precedent for research ethics in disasters" by Philippe Calain in the Journal of Medical Ethics. Journal article - 30 Aug 2016

Four mothers posing in a corridor of the Hospital in Bili. All four of them are staying in the hospital with their child, that's suffering from a severe case of malaria. Since the beginning of the project in 2016, the pediatric ward already treated more than 4.000 cases of complicated/severe form of malaria.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Independent medical humanitarian assistance

We provide medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. Our teams are made up of tens of thousands of health professionals, logistic and administrative staff - most of them hired locally. Our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of independence and impartiality. We are a non-profit, self-governed, member-based organisation.

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MSF Websites

We are under attack almost every day; life has become almost impossible