MSF-USA: News for the Week of August 13, 1998

August 13, 1998
News for the Week of August 13, 1998

Famine Spreads in Southern Sudan

Every day, 120 people are dying out of a population of 17,500 in and around the town of Ajiep in the Bahr el Ghazal province of southern Sudan, according to an MSF survey.

From July 13 to July 23, the global mortality rate for adults quadrupled to over 69 deaths per 10,000 people per day, and multiplied ten-fold for children under five to 133 deaths per 10,000 children per day.

MSF is operating supplementary feeding centers for thousands of malnourished persons in seven areas of Bahr El Ghazal. And additional four therapeutic (or intensive care) feeding centers have been opened for severely malnourished children. In the therapeutic feeding centers, children receive seven feedings of a special formula each day.

MSF has 91 international staff working on the relief effort for southern Sudan. In addition this emergency program, MSF runs programs to treat kala azar (visceral leischmaniasis), Guinea worm, and river blindness in southern Sudan.

Bringing Aid to China's Flood Victims

"Imagine that each and every one of the 250 million Americans had feet that were covered with water right now. That is exactly what the people in China are experiencing right now." — Justine Geldard, Communications Officer, MSF

In the wake of massive floods in China, MSF is providing medical care and distributing emergency supplies in a number of prefectures of Hunan, Sichaun, and Yunnan provinces. Says nurse Alyson Froud in Hunan Province, "The main problem is access, as the roads have been washed away. We are trying to gain access because we believe that the needs in this area are great in view of the poverty of most of the prefecture and the fact that this area has been cut off for most of the past two months."

In Sichuan Province, the impoverished Yan Yuan County has been cut off from supplies for two months, and the situation is precarious for more than 11,000 homeless people. MSF has prepared medical supplies and is seeking to transport them to this area by horse and donkey.

MSF Evacuates Team from Eastern Congo

MSF evacuated its international staff from the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (the cities of Goma, Bukavu and Kisangani) because of the recent unrest in the country. Medical teams working in the province of Kivu on the Rwandan border had been threatened by armed rebels and government soldiers. Among the 10 evacuees were two Americans.

When heavy fighting broke out in the city of Kisangani between the Congolese army and the rebels, MSF offered medical aid to the wounded people. This aid was refused by the authorities. The organization is very concerned about the effects of the fighting on the civilian population, as well as the constant rumors that Congolese and Rwandan citizens--especially ethnic Tutsis--are being harassed and killed.

MSF has worked in eastern Congo since 1991. In Goma and Bukavu, the organization supports health centers with drugs and trains medical staff. In Kisangani and Bunia, it provides health education and runs a water and sanitation program to prevent cholera. MSF teams have been able to remain in the south and west of Congo, including the capital Kinshasa.

Letter from Kosovo

from Joelle Tanguy, Executive Director, MSF-USA, August 12, 1998

MSF has been working in Kosovo since 1993, providing medical supplies to local clinics, training health personnel, and improving water and sanitation systems. Since fighting broke out in Kosovo in the spring of 1998, MSF has been operating mobile clinics to reach displaced populations and others who are unable to gain access to health care.

"The latest offensive of Serb forces in Kosovo has targeted mostly villages and small towns, forcing populations to flee into the hills. Previous attacks, in recent months, had forced families to take refuge in other villages, in the houses of relatives. But the latest offensive, so widespread, seems to have displaced too many to be accommodated in private homes. According to some sources, between 50,000 and 70,000 have been displaced by this latest phase of the conflict, declared two weeks ago. And according to UNHCR, the total number of IDPs in Kosovo is reaching 200,000, a tenth of the population!

"MSF teams, despite tremendous difficulty at checkpoints, have been able, by insistence and obstinance, to gain access to groups of displaced people hiding in the hills, and to be a firsthand witness to their tragedy. For a large part of the Drenica region, the formula is the same: villagers escape into the hills as the villages were attacked, mostly by shelling; Serbian police forces take control of the shelled villages.. In many of these villages, fields and houses are set ablaze not only by the shelling but apparently days after the shelling too, possibly intentionally by arson, reportedly to prevent the displaced populations return, a sad reminder of the practices adopted in the Bosnia ethnic cleansing.

"Some families in hiding are even scared to cook as they fear that smoke could cause them to be located and shelled by Serb police. So they cook at night, under tree cover. They have very little food, but some have brought a minimum supply to the hills. Often families we find have been twice displaced: their original village was attacked in recent months, and then the relatives' homes, in which they sought shelter, came under attack in the last offensive.

"Our work is essential as we are the only organization able to send medical teams into the affected and controlled areas. We also assist the populations with basic supplies such as collapsible water containers and purification tablets, plastic sheeting and mattresses, we carry out consultations on the spot and/or to give supplies to the displaced medical doctors and health professionals (also in hiding with their displaced community). Many pathologies are related to the quality of water found in the hills (diarrhea) and to mental health (high blood pressure, mental trauma etc... ) More worrying are the pregnant mothers and the serious cases needing evacuations to hospitals. MSF has started to carry out these evacuations, with a major limitation: no fighting-age man can be transported in our vehicles. In the weeks to come, the threat of rains is a concern, with the related need for shelter and the risks of respiratory infections. And of course, we all dread the continuation, and likely escalation of the fighting.

"MSF plans to immediately expand the program of mobile teams to expand its reach throughout the hills and valleys of the affected region."