Chad

Chad experienced bouts of instability in 2005/2006. Several attempted coups on the government culminated in a largescale rebel attack on N'Djamena in April 2006, resulting in hundreds of civilian and military casualties. Earlier, in December 2005, clashes between government forces and Chadian rebel groups broke out in and around Adré, located at the Sudanese border. Since then, rebels or armed fighters have undertaken regular violent attacks at villages on both sides of the border.

Helping the wounded and displaced

Surgical capacity is necessary to treat people affected by violence. In the Adré hospital, MSF provides basic healthcare and basic and emergency surgery to residents and Sudanese persons who have fled Darfur and are now living in refugee camps in Chad. Healthcare and surgery are provided in the 50-bed hospital of Iriba, further north, and basic healthcare is available in a health center at the border town of Tiné.

MSF has improved surgical facilities in the hospital of the provincial capital of Abéché and has readied medical materials such as kits and dressings to treat any war-wounds resulting from flaring violence in the area.

The sustained instability in eastern Chad has led to further population displacement along the border stretch. South of Adré, MSF operates fixed and mobile clinics to provide healthcare, non-food items and drinkable water to thousands of villagers and displaced people in and around the villages of Borota, Alacha, Adé, Koloy and Dogdoré. In June 2006, more than 5000 children were vaccinated against measles in this area.

Refugees from Darfur and Central African Republic

MSF provides medical care — including paediatric and maternal care — and psychosocial support to approximately 80,000 Sudanese refugees in four refugee camps. MSF also treats the surrounding Chadian population. Teams are involved in addressing the consequences of sexual violence, malnutrition, providing health education and controlling communicable diseases.

Since June 2005, increasing violence in the neighbouring Central African Republic prompted some 15,000 villagers to flee into southern Chad. MSF teams assist Central Africans on both sides of the border. In Goré, Chad, MSF supports the 50- bed hospital and two health posts in the Amboko extension and Gondje.

Malaria, measles and meningitis

MSF runs a malaria project in Bongor district, bordering Cameroon. During the endemic season in 2005, almost 40,000 people were tested and treated with artemisinin- based combination therapy (ACT).

In Bongor's district hospital, MSF provides surgical training for local doctors and anaesthetist training for nurses. In April 2006 the mobile surgical team relocated to N'Djamena to provide care for 49 persons seriously injured by violence.

Throughout the year, MSF regularly responds to emergencies such as measles, meningitis and cholera epidemics throughout the country. In May 2006, MSF vaccinated over 50,000 people against meningitis.

MSF has worked in Chad since 1981.

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