Menu
  • {{ item.title }}
  • Subscribe
  • {{{ labels.pdonate }}}
  • {{ item.title }}
    • {{ subitem.title }}

    {{ subitems[item.mlid].body }}

    {{ subitems[item.mlid].linktitle }}
  • Subscribe
  • {{{ maindlink.ltitle }}}
    • {{ item.ltitle }}
Medical aid where it's needed most.
Independent. Neutral. Impartial.
Medical aid where it's needed most.
Logo
 
  • Support our work
  • Why donate to MSF
  • Our promise to supporters
  • Corporate partnerships
  • Major giving
  • Supporter's stories
  • من نحن
  • لمحة عامة
  • مبادؤنا
  • مكتب الإمارات
  • لمحة تاريخية
  • الأسئلة الأكثر تكرراً
  • Media Centre
  • Stories
  • Press room
  • Publications
  • Photo gallery
  • Video library
  • COVID-19
  • Work with us
  • Work in the Field
  • Work in the UAE
  • Volunteer in the UAE
  • Current vacancies
  • للعمل معنا
  • العمل في الميدان
  • العمل في الإمارات
  • التطوع في الإمارات
  • الوظائف الشاغرة
  • المواد الإعلامية
  • قصص
  • المركز الصحفي
  • كوفيد-19
  • مطبوعات
  • معرض الصور
  • مقاطع مصورة
  • About us
  • Overview
  • Principles
  • UAE office
  • History
  • FAQs
  • ادعم عملنا
  • لماذا أتبرع
  • التزامنا لداعمينا
  • الشراكات المؤسسية
  • التبرعات الكبرى
  • قصص الداعمين

Language

  • العربية
  • English

{{ labels.thisection }}

{{id}}

  • {{id2}}
    • {{id3}}
28 Sep 16

Nigeria: Disastrous living conditions more deadly than violence

Conflict-affected populations in Borno state need emergency food aid now.

The humanitarian emergency in northeast Nigeria is reaching catastrophic levels. A massive relief effort is needed immediately in remote areas as well as in the state capital, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said today.

The desperate living conditions in Borno state show the devastating impact of the ongoing conflict between Boko Haram and the Nigerian military.

In several locations, people have sought refuge in towns or camps controlled by the military, and are entirely reliant on outside aid that does not reach them.

Massive relief effort needed

“Although a nutrition emergency was declared three months ago, there has been a serious failure to help the people of Borno,” said Hugues Robert, head of MSF’s emergency response.

“And we are again calling for a massive relief effort to be deployed now.”

On 19 September, MSF teams managed to reach the town of Ngala, where 80,000 displaced people are living in a camp cut off from the outside world. They desperately lack food and healthcare.

People are effectively stranded in the camp and cannot leave. A rapid nutritional screening of more than 2,000 children under the age of five found that one in 10 was suffering from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition.

People in the camp reported having less than half a litre of water per person per day. MSF teams provided food and medical care and are scaling up assistance.


Tim Shenk/MSF
An outpatient medical consultation during an MSF distribution of food and nonfood items in Muna Garage Camp in Maiduguri, Nigeria.

One in seven children suffering from malnutrition

In nearby Gambaru, MSF teams found more than one in seven children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

The town’s 123,000 residents lack basic food supplies and have no access to healthcare after the town’s only clinic was burnt down. Roads are too dangerous for people to go elsewhere for medical care.

The desperate situation in Ngala and Gamburu matches that in Bama, Banki and Gwoza – all towns which were inaccessible until very recently due to insecurity, and where MSF has since been providing food and medical assistance.

But most worryingly, in Maiduguri, where there is no conflict and aid organisations have been able to access the population for the last two years, MSF recorded malnutrition rates in some locations as high as those seen in the conflict zones.


Ikram N'gadi
A mother and child at MSF's intensive therapeutic feeding centre in Damaturu General Hospital, Yobe State.

Mortality rates five times higher than emergency levels

More than half of the 2.5 million people living in the state capital have been displaced from other areas of Borno.

MSF teams screening children in the Custom House camp found that one in five children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition. The mortality rate is five times higher than what is considered an emergency, with the main cause being hunger.

“So far the aid response has been massively insufficient, uncoordinated and ill-adapted to the needs of people who are suffering the consequences of this crisis,” said Natalie Roberts, MSF emergency programme manager.

“To avert an even greater humanitarian disaster, food and medical care must be delivered now to remote and accessible areas in Borno state. Nigerian authorities have a responsibility to make sure this happens for the sake of thousands who are at risk of imminent death.”

MSF in northeast Nigeria

MSF has been providing healthcare to people displaced by violence, as well the host community, in northeast Nigeria since mid-2014.

Elsewhere in the country, in places like Zamfara, Port Harcourt and Jahun, MSF continues to run extensive projects on child health and sexual and reproductive health, and also responds to medical emergencies such as meningitis and measles outbreaks.

In 2015, MSF teams performed 33,500 outpatient consultations, treated 18,100 patients for malaria, assisted 9,200 births and conducted 2,400 surgical interventions.

Find out more about MSF's work in Nigeria

Primary tabs

  • View(active tab)
  • What links here

{{{ labels.morehistories }}}

  • {{ related.node["Article Type"] }}

    {{ related.node.title }}

    {{ related.node.created }}

{{ node.node.title }}

{{ node.node.field_link }}

{{ node.node.body }}

{{labels.sitename}}

Regional Office
P.O. Box 65650, Dubai
Tel: +971 (4) 457 9255 | Fax: +971 (4) 457 9155

  • {{link.name}}
Site Map
Follow us
  • {{{snetwork.file}}}
Share on

{{ labels.leadin }}

{{ labels.intro }}

  • {{ office.name }}
Donate