MSF Concludes Emergency Operations in Mexico
November 23, 2007
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has concluded its operations on behalf of populations affected by the early November 2007 floods in the state of Tabasco, Mexico. The emergency team left the country early in the week.
After quickly evaluating the situation and needs of people living in the region, MSF set up mobile clinics in the towns of Nacajuca and Frontera, north of Villahermosa, Tabasco’s capital city. Nearly 80 percent of the state was affected by the floods. During the 10 days that MSF teams worked in the region, they distributed more than 400 hygiene kits, 400 cooking kits and 125 mattresses intended to improve daily living conditions for families suddenly left homeless and to prevent epidemic (specifically, cholera). To that end, 8,000 liters of drinking water were distributed in the Nacajuca region.
In addition, MSF donated 6,000 mosquito nets and water treatment supplies to the Mexican Red Cross, which handled the bulk of the massive amounts of aid delivered to the population of Tabasco, as well as that of Chiapas. Thanks to national support, the 500,000 people forced to flee their homes after torrential rains caused rivers to overflow their banks received adequate aid.
Once the emergency team was confident that the sanitary situation was under control and that Mexican authorities had met the emergency needs, it withdrew from Tabasco province. At the same time, the national coordinating group based in Mexico City will continue to monitor the medical situation in Tabasco and elsewhere.gma
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