Posts tagged South Sudan

Photo: The MSF hospital and the Sobat river at dawn as seen from the river’s edge in Nasir. South Sudan 2012 © Brendan Bannon Field Blog: An Assortment of Oncalls Emma Pedley is a British nurse working on community outreach projects with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Nasir, South Sudan. Read her MSF Field Blog here. It’s hard to give an idea of the bewildering breadth of patients that we are presented with during on calls. Even used as I am to the variety of humanity that compiles the average emergency department back at home, I am still frequently taken aback with the range of problems that the radio calls that I receive during the night require me to somehow deal with. The only part of the hospital that I don’t cover during the night is maternity, so the scope of cases I am called for range from ER cases that need admission to malnourished children in the inpatient therapeutic feeding center ( ITFC) who can deteriorate with frightening suddenness during the night to unstable patients in the ICU… .

Photo: The MSF hospital and the Sobat river at dawn as seen from the river’s edge in Nasir. South Sudan 2012 © Brendan Bannon

Field Blog: An Assortment of Oncalls

Emma Pedley is a British nurse working on community outreach projects with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Nasir, South Sudan. Read her MSF Field Blog here.

It’s hard to give an idea of the bewildering breadth of patients that we are presented with during on calls. Even used as I am to the variety of humanity that compiles the average emergency department back at home, I am still frequently taken aback with the range of problems that the radio calls that I receive during the night require me to somehow deal with. The only part of the hospital that I don’t cover during the night is maternity, so the scope of cases I am called for range from ER cases that need admission to malnourished children in the inpatient therapeutic feeding center ( ITFC) who can deteriorate with frightening suddenness during the night to unstable patients in the ICU… .

2am “Oncall, oncall for ICU – we have one child yes, they are convulsions…” I jolt into wakefulness and am out of my bed and running over to the hospital as fast as I can go telling the nurses to prepare IV diazepam down the radio as I go. This could be anything, but always think worst case scenario… I arrive on the ward and yes, this is actual convulsions, a four-year-old with cerebral malaria.
MSF nurse Emma writes about the of variety people she treats when on-call in South Sudan. Please leave your comments for Emma on her blog. 
It’s incredible to watch how fast MSF responds in these evolving situations – the boat went out on Monday – and on Tuesday was sent back to the hospital containing seven patients, mostly women and children with gunshot wounds. A further five arrived the next day. I don’t think I’ve ever looked after a braver patient than the trembling mite of a five-year-old girl with the bullet wound to her shoulder who sat still and tense, holding back sobs while I examined her.
MSF nurse Emma’s latest blog post from Nasir, South Sudan. Please leave your questions and comments for Emma below her blog post.
Photo: People line up for registration at a vaccination site. South Sudan 2013 © Corinne Baker/MSF Preventing Cholera in South Sudan’s Remote Refugee Camps MSF teams have completed a preventive cholera vaccination campaign in and around the refugee camps in Maban County, South Sudan. Hoping to prevent the spread of the potentially fatal disease, staff vaccinated 105,000 refugees in four camps and 27,500 other residents of the area. MSF launched the vaccination campaign with the cooperation of South Sudan’s Ministry of Health as part of a cholera preparedness and prevention plan. While teams have already set up and pre-stocked cholera treatment facilities in the camps, the remoteness of the area and supply challenges mean that a cholera outbreak could be disastrous. That’s what makes the added prevention provided by a vaccination campaign so crucial. “The key for preventing cholera is to ensure sufficient access to clean drinking water, and to have appropriate sanitation and hygiene facilities,” says Paul Critchley, MSF emergency coordinator in Maban County. “We are currently tackling an escalating hepatitis E outbreak in the camps, so we know that sanitation conditions here are not yet adequate. Hepatitis E is spread in similar ways to cholera, and this reinforces the need to do all we can to prevent cholera breaking out too.”

Photo: People line up for registration at a vaccination site. South Sudan 2013 © Corinne Baker/MSF

Preventing Cholera in South Sudan’s Remote Refugee Camps

MSF teams have completed a preventive cholera vaccination campaign in and around the refugee camps in Maban County, South Sudan. Hoping to prevent the spread of the potentially fatal disease, staff vaccinated 105,000 refugees in four camps and 27,500 other residents of the area.

MSF launched the vaccination campaign with the cooperation of South Sudan’s Ministry of Health as part of a cholera preparedness and prevention plan. While teams have already set up and pre-stocked cholera treatment facilities in the camps, the remoteness of the area and supply challenges mean that a cholera outbreak could be disastrous. That’s what makes the added prevention provided by a vaccination campaign so crucial.

“The key for preventing cholera is to ensure sufficient access to clean drinking water, and to have appropriate sanitation and hygiene facilities,” says Paul Critchley, MSF emergency coordinator in Maban County. “We are currently tackling an escalating hepatitis E outbreak in the camps, so we know that sanitation conditions here are not yet adequate. Hepatitis E is spread in similar ways to cholera, and this reinforces the need to do all we can to prevent cholera breaking out too.”

Fighting Neglected Disease Sleeping Sickness in South Sudan

Sleeping sickness has been a major health problem in South Sudan for the last century. Transmitted by the tse tse fly, it can be fatal if left untreated. Over a ten-week period, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) mobile teams based in Kajo Keji traveled to remote villages where patients have little access to medical care, screening over 37,000 people for the disease and providing treatment to 

Many memories of South Sudan will remain with me forever. Sad memories of seeing first-hand the dire circumstances many people have to endure or of witnessing the death of a small child. Disturbing images like seeing a small boy play with an imitation AK47 possibly trying to mimic his father or other men. But mostly happy memories of seeing a mother’s joy when her child gets better, the appreciation of our staff for training and coaching given, the surprise on people’s faces when I talked to them in my few words of Nuer, of working together with the rest of the team and of the beautiful sunsets.
MSF general practitioner, Cormac, reflects on his time in South Sudan as his first project with MSF comes to an end.
Nick Lawson, MSF-USA’s Director of Field Human Resources, on how MSF finds people to work with.

Nick Lawson, MSF-USA’s Director of Field Human Resources, on how MSF finds people to work with.

This strange, inhospitable, impossible place that is now home for 15,000, 65,000, 115,000 people who had to run here.

I don’t think about this a lot, because it seems like an impossible thought. To try to understand what it might feel like to have no home to go to anymore. The Ingessana are of their place, very much so. I can’t see it in the faces or the eyes of the people who I work with here, the people on my team who come from the refugee population. Strangely, they seem happy, in such good spirits. I’m confused by a lot of my staff actually. If I was bombed out of my home, I would be shit mad, totally crushed.

Imran takes a philosophical look at humanitarian life: what it means to be constantly on the move and away from home. Please leave your comments and questions for Imran in the comments box below his blog post. 

MSF Monitors the Situation in Yida Camp, South Sudan

The end of the rainy season and continued conflict have pushed a new wave of people to Yida refugee camp in South Sudan. The high mortality rate in July has stabilized, but levels of malnutrition among displaced children remain high.

The combination stressors of unfamiliar climate and diet, not to mention the ideals that lead you into this sort of work in the first place make a lot of people push themselves hard at their jobs – unsurprisingly illness and periods of emotional burnout are not uncommon among the expat workers… only time will tell how I fare. For now I’m going to follow the advice that I’ve been given and hope and pray that my immune system holds up!

“Hello, Emma? Welcome to Nasir, paradise!”

Meet British nurse Emma who has just started her first MSF mission in South Sudan, working with outpatients, childhood immunization and community outreach programs. Please leave your questions and comments for Emma below her blog post. 
Photo: Sudanese refugees wait in line in the outpatient department at the MSF field hospital in Jamam refugee camp. South Sudan 2012 © Paula Bronstein/Getty Images Fear and Hope in South Sudan as Refugees Start to Cross Border Again More than 170,000 people who fled violence in Sudan are living in refugee camps in South Sudan. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been assisting the refugees since November 2011, running field hospitals and providing supplies of clean drinking water and oral rehydration fluids. Now that the floods caused by the rainy season are subsiding refugees are starting to cross the border again. In December 2012, around 370 refugees arrived at the border village of El Fuj, traveling in two groups and arriving a few days apart. This is a small number compared to last year, when 35,000 people crossed the border in the space of just three weeks. Time will tell if the numbers will increase. While the camps in South Sudan provide relative safety, refugees living there face dire conditions. There are still shortages of clean water—at times, 40 percent of medical consultations carried out by MSF were related to diarrhea—and there are ongoing occurrences of Hepatitis E. In Batil Camp (which hosts around 35,000 refugees), mortality rates were more than double emergency thresholds in summer 2012, and more than a quarter of the children under the age of five were malnourished. Since September 2012, conditions have improved in many areas and mortality rates have dropped, but nutrition and food security are still serious concerns.

Photo: Sudanese refugees wait in line in the outpatient department at the MSF field hospital in Jamam refugee camp. South Sudan 2012 © Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Fear and Hope in South Sudan as Refugees Start to Cross Border Again

More than 170,000 people who fled violence in Sudan are living in refugee camps in South Sudan. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been assisting the refugees since November 2011, running field hospitals and providing supplies of clean drinking water and oral rehydration fluids. Now that the floods caused by the rainy season are subsiding refugees are starting to cross the border again. In December 2012, around 370 refugees arrived at the border village of El Fuj, traveling in two groups and arriving a few days apart. This is a small number compared to last year, when 35,000 people crossed the border in the space of just three weeks. Time will tell if the numbers will increase. While the camps in South Sudan provide relative safety, refugees living there face dire conditions. There are still shortages of clean water—at times, 40 percent of medical consultations carried out by MSF were related to diarrhea—and there are ongoing occurrences of Hepatitis E. In Batil Camp (which hosts around 35,000 refugees), mortality rates were more than double emergency thresholds in summer 2012, and more than a quarter of the children under the age of five were malnourished. Since September 2012, conditions have improved in many areas and mortality rates have dropped, but nutrition and food security are still serious concerns.

After that it was on to our nutrition clinic to see the children remaining as inpatients for the Christmas period. Some of the children and their mothers had got new clothes and most people were happy wishing each other a merry Christmas. Thankfully all of the patients were fairly stable so there was not too much clinical work.
Irish doctor Cormac writes about life in the field in South Sudan over the festive season. Please leave your questions and comments for Cormac below his blog post. 
The magnitude of humanitarian emergencies around the world in 2012 has been devastating, leaving millions of people trapped in crisis. But as millions suffered – you didn’t look away. It’s important that you know that our response depends on your response. It’s been a challenging year, and we urgently need your support right now. Please make your 2012 tax-deductible donation today. In the coming year, we will bring malnourished children back from the brink of death and help pregnant women in distress deliver their babies. We will perform lifesaving surgeries in conflict zones and treat patients suffering from killer diseases like meningitis, kala azar, malaria, and cholera. Emergencies we have responded to this year have taken us to the most remote and dangerous places in the world. We remain committed to delivering quality emergency medical care where it is needed and when it is needed – but to do so we need your support.

The magnitude of humanitarian emergencies around the world in 2012 has been devastating, leaving millions of people trapped in crisis.

But as millions suffered – you didn’t look away.

It’s important that you know that our response depends on your response. It’s been a challenging year, and we urgently need your support right now.

Please make your 2012 tax-deductible donation today.

In the coming year, we will bring malnourished children back from the brink of death and help pregnant women in distress deliver their babies. We will perform lifesaving surgeries in conflict zones and treat patients suffering from killer diseases like meningitis, kala azar, malaria, and cholera.

Emergencies we have responded to this year have taken us to the most remote and dangerous places in the world. We remain committed to delivering quality emergency medical care where it is needed and when it is needed – but to do so we need your support.

Fleeing violence doesn’t always mean finding safety. After months of walking to escape fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile state, tens of thousands of refugees arrived in South Sudan to find that they were now on the cruel frontlines of new dangers – malnutrition, poor sanitation, and deadly diseases like malaria. Heavy rains had washed out the roads, and airplanes became the only option for getting supplies as Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical teams scaled up our response – setting up therapeutic feeding centers, vaccinating against deadly outbreaks of disease, and providing clean water. Your support makes it possible for our teams to overcome obstacles and focus on saving more lives of men, women, and children with nowhere else to turn. There are only a few days left to make your 2012 tax-deductible donation. Donate now to help save lives in 2013. Photo: South Sudan 2012 © Nichole Sobecki

Fleeing violence doesn’t always mean finding safety.

After months of walking to escape fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile state, tens of thousands of refugees arrived in South Sudan to find that they were now on the cruel frontlines of new dangers – malnutrition, poor sanitation, and deadly diseases like malaria.

Heavy rains had washed out the roads, and airplanes became the only option for getting supplies as Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical teams scaled up our response – setting up therapeutic feeding centers, vaccinating against deadly outbreaks of disease, and providing clean water.

Your support makes it possible for our teams to overcome obstacles and focus on saving more lives of men, women, and children with nowhere else to turn.

There are only a few days left to make your 2012 tax-deductible donation. Donate now to help save lives in 2013.

Photo: South Sudan 2012 © Nichole Sobecki

Photo: Displaced people use plastic sheeting to transport supplies along the Pibor river. South Sudan 2012 © Robin Meldrum/MSF Voice From the Field: A Clinic Deep in the BushDavid Bude is a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) clinical officer working in a remote outreach health clinic in the village of Lekwongole, near Pibor town in South Sudan’s violence-wracked Jonglei State. When fighting erupted in Lekwongole in August 2012, David fled along with the rest of the population. Hiding deep in the bush, he used his medical skills to save lives in exceptionally difficult circumstances. Fleeing for our Lives We ran from Lekwongole when there was shooting. I was frightened, and so was everyone else, because of what we had seen—because of the dead people. I said to my wife that if we stay we will be killed. It is better to run to the bush because we know where we can hide ourselves. We crossed the river using plastic sheeting as boats. We tied the lengths of plastic and put grass inside to make it more stable, so it would not collapse when we stepped inside. We ferried our children to the other riverbank, and then we ran, all of us, with our children and families. We didn’t have time to take any food or even any clothes or medicines. Everything was left behind. Deep in the Bush We were deep in the bush. There was thick grass and undergrowth everywhere, no roads or tracks. I was scared—everyone was scared. You can’t see what is in the thick tall grass, and there are lots of dangerous things: snakes, hyenas, we heard lions at night. And there were the rebels and militia. You don’t know what will happen at night, or even during the daytime. The area was flooded, so there was lots of water everywhere. Most people were just sleeping under trees without anything for shelter. Some had some plastic sheeting with them and when it rained they would invite other people’s children to take shelter. We helped each other because we were all there in the bush together.

Photo: Displaced people use plastic sheeting to transport supplies along the Pibor river. South Sudan 2012 © Robin Meldrum/MSF

Voice From the Field: A Clinic Deep in the Bush
David Bude is a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) clinical officer working in a remote outreach health clinic in the village of Lekwongole, near Pibor town in South Sudan’s violence-wracked Jonglei State. When fighting erupted in Lekwongole in August 2012, David fled along with the rest of the population. Hiding deep in the bush, he used his medical skills to save lives in exceptionally difficult circumstances.

Fleeing for our Lives

We ran from Lekwongole when there was shooting. I was frightened, and so was everyone else, because of what we had seen—because of the dead people.

I said to my wife that if we stay we will be killed. It is better to run to the bush because we know where we can hide ourselves.

We crossed the river using plastic sheeting as boats. We tied the lengths of plastic and put grass inside to make it more stable, so it would not collapse when we stepped inside. We ferried our children to the other riverbank, and then we ran, all of us, with our children and families. We didn’t have time to take any food or even any clothes or medicines. Everything was left behind.

Deep in the Bush

We were deep in the bush. There was thick grass and undergrowth everywhere, no roads or tracks. I was scared—everyone was scared. You can’t see what is in the thick tall grass, and there are lots of dangerous things: snakes, hyenas, we heard lions at night. And there were the rebels and militia. You don’t know what will happen at night, or even during the daytime.

The area was flooded, so there was lots of water everywhere. Most people were just sleeping under trees without anything for shelter. Some had some plastic sheeting with them and when it rained they would invite other people’s children to take shelter. We helped each other because we were all there in the bush together.