MSF raises alarm over hunger, diseases, crisis dominating North-West
An international medical organization, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), on Thursday painted a gloomy picture of the humanitarian crisis in the North-West, saying the area was dominated by hunger and diseases.
The MSF stated this in a statement issued from a hospital it supported in Anka, Zamfara State.
The group’s Head of Mission in Nigeria, Froukje Pelsma, according to the statement, said, “The lives of people in North-West Nigeria are now dominated by hunger, abuse and preventable diseases.
“What is happening here is a humanitarian emergency that needs urgent attention and a proper response. The authorities and all relevant stakeholders should assume their responsibilities towards affected communities.”
The MSF’s Dr Godwin Emudanohwo, stated that the crisis in Zamfara State was more pathetic.
He stated, “Our teams in Zamfara State have witnessed an alarming rise in preventable illnesses associated with a lack of food, drinking water, shelter and vaccinations.
“Children keep on arriving here (in the hospital) in a very bad condition. In the first four months of 2021, our teams in Anka, Zurmi, and Shinkafi treated 10,300 children for severe acute malnutrition, measles, malaria, diarrhea, and respiratory infections. This is 54 percent higher than last year.”
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The group, therefore, called for an urgent humanitarian response for people in the region who were desperately short of food, drinking water, shelter, protection, and basic services, including healthcare.
It stated that what began as occasional clashes between farmers and herders competing over increasingly scarce land and water resources had evolved into violence by armed groups, who used kidnapping and plundering as a lucrative source of income.
According to MSF teams, people who make it to MSF health facilities usually say that the surge in violence has driven them to flee their homes, farms, and grazing lands
They said some had sought protection in Zamfara’s larger towns, such as Anka, where they were sheltering in camps, both formal and informal.
The MSF teams also described the living conditions in the camps as dire, with no regular food distributions or proper shelter, and with insufficient water and sanitation facilities.
According to them, other people have stayed in villages, too afraid to travel on insecure roads and delaying their trips to seek healthcare or fulfill other basic needs.
According to the group, a woman identified as Halima, stated, “There’s hardly any food to give my children.”
