Mali: “Our village has been turned into a tomb”

“Our activities far from cover all the needs,” says Jonathan Tumbwe, MSF coordinator in Koro. “The number of patients consulted at the central health center where we provide care has risen from 300 to more than 1,000 per month, the number of births from 10 to 37, and more than 15 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition out of the total number of children screened each month.” 

Some refugees are living with host families, while others struggle to pay monthly rent because they can’t make a living. There are also many other refugees who have no shelter and are exposed to the elements, and lack food and as well as essential household items.

As more refugees arrive, needs increase

In the Bandiagara region, where Koro is located, MSF has set up projects to provide emergency medical and humanitarian assistance to people affected by armed conflict by supporting the hospitals in Koro, Bankass, and Bandiagara to deal with influxes of wounded people. MSF teams also provide protection and mental health treatment. At community level, MSF teams are working in the health centers of Diankabou, Dioungani, Mory, and Baye, as well as in 14 essential community care sites, to provide basic curative and preventive care to the community and refer patients to care facilities.

MSF teams are currently re-evaluating the intervention strategy to see how to increase the level of response in the face of growing demand. As more refugees arrive in Koro, the needs increase. 

The first refugees began arriving in May 2023, and this wave intensified during the first half of 2024. 

In July, MSF teams counted some 82,000 refugees in the town of Koro. The National Commission in Charge of Refugees (CNCR) was able to register 46,128 refugees in September and noted that there are still more than 11,000 people waiting to be registered. 

“We are asking for food assistance for all the refugees to prevent malnutrition and to build shelters for them,” says Tumbwe. “It is not right that people who are already vulnerable and in need of help should have to pay rent.”

A shortage of water and shelter

Even before the current crisis, Koro had a recurring problem of insufficient supply of drinking water. The arrival of refugees has increased the demand for water, further exacerbating the shortage. There is also a shortage of available housing.

“This is the first time that the town of Koro has received more refugees than the local population,” explained a local authority. “For those who know Koro and its water problems, the arrival of the refugees makes access to water even more difficult for the whole town, and also creates issues of providing shelter. Among the 63,000 families of refugees, only 1,200 households have received two months’ worth of food aid, and only 1,000 people have received cash from the other organizations present. 

“The need for water has largely been solved by MSF, which has installed water points in the town to facilitate free access for all refugees,” he adds.