Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has called for humanitarian aid for the Nigerian population in Borno State, stressing that the crisis is ongoing and at risk of deteriorating.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said that northeastern Nigeria is in urgent need of humanitarian aid before the situation worsens in the area. Kerri Ann Kelly, head of the MSF Mission in Nigeria, said that the high number of people dependent on humanitarian aid shows that the crisis is most definitely not over yet. UN figures put the number of IDPs in northeastern Nigerian at 1.7 million, 78% of them in Borno State.
Malnutrition and lack of healthcare facilities
The humanitarian organization notes that children are dying at an alarming rate in an overcrowded camp for displaced people in Bama, where MSF has recently started a pediatric nutritional program to meet humanitarian needs of the newly displaced.
The NGO's website notes that the ''Government Science Secondary School Camp received more than 10,000 displaced people since April, many of whom are in poor health after fleeing other areas of northeastern Nigeria amid fighting between government forces and armed groups. Intended for a maximum of 25,000 people, the camp exceeded its capacity at the end of July, without adequate shelter, water, and medical care,'' it added.
33 children died in two weeks
The organization said that ''newly arrived MSF teams found that 33 young children died in the town's Government Science Secondary School camp from August 2 to 15, indicating a humanitarian emergency, given the camp's estimated population of 6,000 children under five years old.''
''Many children in the camp are severely malnourished and suffer from medical complications urgently requiring intensive care and close medical follow-up, as the current rainy season typically sees a spike in the number of patients with malaria and diarrheal diseases,'' it continued.
''At present, the only hospital in Bama, Bama General Hospital, is not functional,'' it said. ''Seriously ill children have to travel to the state capital, Maiduguri, for further treatment. However, many people in Bama cannot afford to pay for private transport, and even if they can, inpatient nutritional centers are overwhelmed in Maiduguri as well.
While MSF was setting up an inpatient facility in Bama, MSF also referred 26 patients from Bama to MSF's pediatric hospital in Maiduguri. Katja Lorenz, MSF's representative in Abuja, added that ''despite the presence of government agencies and international humanitarian organizations in Bama, the health and nutrition situation has been allowed to deteriorate to the current crisis point. Measures must be urgently taken to avoid overcrowding and ensure dignified living conditions in the Government Science Secondary School camp.''