Mali: MSF maintains its presence in Timbuktu

This is a press release issued yesterday by MSF to Agence France-Presse, concerning the project on which I am working:

Date Published: 12/07/2012 10:15
A Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) team is providing health care in Timbuktu despite the destabilising, ongoing violence in the north of the country which has displaced thousands in recent months.
Since the beginning of April, Timbuktu has been in the hands of Tuareg rebels and armed Islamist groups. The city is the scene of pillaging and has rapidly lost a large share of its population: two-thirds of its approximately 40,000 inhabitants have fled toward other regions of Mali, or to neighbouring countries.

Health centres pillaged

An armed rebellion took hold of northern Mali in early 2012, leading to the displacement of large groups of people. © Foura Sassou Madi/MSF

In the surrounding villages, some health centres have been pillaged. Since then, a latent tension has pervaded the city. Sporadic fighting has flared up among armed groups and, recently, sacred sites around the city have been destroyed.
“Bringing aid to this destabilised region is a challenge, but it’s also a necessity,” says Dr Mego Terzian, MSF Emergency Desk Manager.
“The instability impedes the access of humanitarians, and the north of Mali remains blocked to westerners. Nonetheless, because the situation remains volatile and could deteriorate at any time, we are maintaining our presence in Timbuktu’s hospital and in the surrounding villages.”
MSF is one of the few humanitarian organisations present in the region. Five expat volunteers along with the remaining local staff are providing medical care in the city hospital’s departments of paediatrics, medicine, gynaecology and, since mid-May, in the department of surgery.

Fuel shortages

Like the city's inhabitants, some of the medical personnel have fled, and those who remain are not paid regularly. Sporadic fuel shortages disrupt the supply of water and electricity, which in turn impedes the hospital’s operations.
Furthermore, the hospital lacks medicines. In two months, more than 300 patients have been admitted to the hospital and over 1,500 consultations have been performed by our teams.
In recent days, restrictions have been placed on vehicle movement within Timbuktu as well as movement out of the city. Nonetheless, MSF teams continue to provide medical care in Niafounké, Goundam, and Gourma-Rharous outside of the city, and limit medical referrals to the Timbuktu hospital.

Malnutrition

Over the past two months, more than 6,300 consultations have been performed. The primary diseases observed are respiratory infections, diarrhoea, and skin conditions, often related to a lack of water and poor sanitary conditions. 
MSF teams are also paying close attention to the nutritional situation since they have observed pockets of malnutrition in the region. Malnutrition is a chronic problem, and one that becomes more critical each year at the onset of the “hunger gap” – the lean period that falls between two harvests.
Nearly 800 malnourished children have already been treated by MSF. However, due to the security situation, which is having a detrimental effect on the economy, the nutritional crisis is in the region is likely to become worse.
MSF is also working in the country's south. Teams are providing nutritional treatment and pediatric care in five health centers and in the Koutiala hospital.