Kyrgyzstan: MSF Activities in Southern Kyrgyzstan

In the regions of Osh and Jalal-Abad, MSF continues to provide medical and psychological care and to distribute relief items to the many people who have been affected and displaced by violence.

In Onadyr, a neighborhood of 50,000 inhabitants located southeast of Osh, MSF doctors and nurses have carried out 169 dressings for wounded people as well as 535 consultations during their first week at the local clinic. In addition to psychological and mental health disorders, the main pathologies seen were respiratory tract infections, high blood pressure and diarrhea. MSF has also set up a surgical facility inside the clinic and has worked on water supply and sanitation.

In recent days, thousands of people who had fled violent clashes have returned to their neighborhoods, where many houses have been burned. Some people have sought refuge with neighbors, relatives or in schools. Some people, mainly women and children are still staying in locations near the Uzbekistan border, too frightened to return.

During these returns, an MSF nurse carried out 86 consultations at a medical point on the border village of Suratash.

In several neighborhoods in Osh and Jalal-Abad, as well as on sites located on the border, MSF has so far distributed 714 hygiene kits (with soap, shampoo, towels, and various hygiene material), 1,898 blankets, 149 sets with kitchen utensils, 470 jerrycans, and 450 boxes of nutritive biscuits.

Many people are deeply shocked by the extreme violence they have been through. Four MSF psychologists are setting up a mental health support program that will operate throughout southern Kyrgyzstan, providing individual consultations and training for counselors who can then implement group support within the communities.

Another MSF team—made up of a medical doctor, a nurse, a psychologist and a logistician—is conducting needs assessments in various areas across southern Kyrgyzstan.

To date MSF has assisted 12 medical facilities by donating medicines, medical material and surgical equipment. There are 64 MSF employees, including 38 international and 26 national staff, running MSF programs in southern Kyrgyzstan. Teams include doctors, surgeons, nurses, psychologists, logisticians and water-and-sanitation experts. MSF has also been running a tuberculosis program Kyrgyzstan’s penitentiary system since 2006.