Doctors without borders say 500K people need food, shelter

A humanitarian organization, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has called for a major aid response in Borno state, where at least 500,000 people are in urgent need of food, medical care, water and shelter.

In a statement released by the NGO, it was revealed that many people have been cut off from the outside world for as long as two years such that displaced people now living in towns are entirely dependent on outside aid — with many suffering from malnutrition as food is insufficient.

Dr. Isabelle Defourny, MSF director of operations said aid agencies must deploy a massive relief operation to respond to this humanitarian emergency.

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The statement further revealed that extremely high levels of malnutrition and mortality have been observed in Bama, Borno state’s second largest city.

With just over 10,000 inhabitants living in a camp, nearly 1,500 people, who were mostly vulnerable and sick, have been evacuated by the authorities while food aid increased.

MSF also revealed that 15 percent of children in the camp suffer from severe acute malnutrition, and there have been about 40 deaths in the last three weeks.

“Everything suggests that the situation of people in other towns is just as critical and that they also need food and medical care,” Defourny said.

Just like Bama, Monguno, a town of 150,000 inhabitants — 65,000 of whom are displaced — has been without medical care since January 2015.

Meanwhile, MSF has revealed its commitment to rapidly reduce mortality and malnutrition among the displaced as the most critical cases will be transferred to Maiduguri.