Photo: People who have fled shelling are living in precarious conditions without access to medical care. Syria 2012 © MSF

Wounded and Sick Trapped in War-Torn Syrian City

Tens of thousands of people, many of them wounded, are trapped by intense fighting and bombing in Deir Azzour, a city in eastern Syria. MSF called for the evacuation of the injured and sick to safety and for international medical teams be allowed to work in the war-torn city.

An MSF team unofficially visited Deir Azzour governorate in late November to evaluate needs in the isolated, war-ravaged region. It was too dangerous for the team to enter the city of Deir Azzour, home to a reported 600,000 people prior to the conflict. Local residents reported that tens of thousands of people remain trapped in the city, which is shelled and bombed daily. Those remaining are predominantly poor and elderly, unable or unwilling to leave and now extremely vulnerable. Despite support from an organization of Syrian doctors, it is virtually impossible to obtain medical supplies in Deir Azzour.

“Deir Azzour now has just one makeshift hospital with only four doctors working there,” said Patrick Wieland, an MSF coordinator who recently returned from Syria. “The doctors are completely exhausted after six months of working in a combat zone. But they refuse to leave the city and are continuing to treat the wounded around the clock.”

Evacuating patients on stretchers is particularly risky because of aerial bombings and sniper fire.

MSF teams are working in three hospitals in northern and northwestern Syria, in areas controlled by armed opposition groups. MSF provides emergency medical care, including surgery. Since late June 2012, MSF teams have treated more than 2,500 patients and carried out more than 550 surgeries. In Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq, MSF has been providing medical care to Syrian refugees and its teams are prepared to address additional needs arising from the conflict in Syria

ALERT: Fall 2012

The latest issue of our Alert newsletter highlights the devastating crises in South Sudan and Syria, conflict-related emergencies that are causing mass casualties and extensive displacement. In both places, our medical teams are doing as much as they can to ease suffering and save lives.

Photo: MSF staff measures a child’s height and weight, seeking to determine his level of nutrition.  South Sudan 2012 © John Stanmyer/VII Photo

Eyewitnesses to an Emergency
Report from South Sudan

Though it hasn’t gotten much attention, an immense refugee emergency continues to unfold in South Sudan. In the young country’s Unity and Upper Nile states, roughly 170,000 Sudanese refugees are living in camps that were, for much of the summer, sprawling, muddy tracts of hardship and sickness. The refugees had escaped state-sponsored aerial bombardments in their homelands, but MSF’s epidemiological teams documented mortality rates in some of the camps well above, and in some cases double, the World Health Organization’s emergency threshold for refugee situations.

MSF, which had been working among the refugees in Yida, in Unity state, and in Upper Nile state’s Maban County, rapidly scaled up its response, adding scores of international and national staff , taking on tasks—drilling boreholes for water, for instance—normally outside its purview, and working around huge logistical challenges posed by both South Sudan’s war-torn history and the onset of the rainy season.

“It was the most challenging ten weeks of my life. It’s a tragedy, and it was devastating to be there. We saw such high mortality, so many people dying. But also, being there and seeing MSF’s ability to respond quickly and make changes—to really bring about an improvement in the health and lives of the people in Yida—was really incredible. It was an honor to be there,” says MSF nurse John Johnson.

Photo:Women gather at a water tap in T3, the temporary transit site for new arrivals near Jamam. South Sudan 2012 © Shannon Jensen

When the Tap Runs Dry

On Thursday, the pumps at the Bamtiko borehole—the main source of water for Jamam refugee camp—had failed. Imran, MSF’s water and sanitation specialist, led his team in a quick emergency response to replenish and treat the water supply. 

“By the time evening came around that first wet day, I was covered in mud, exhausted, hungry, my clothes bleached by spilled chlorine — a day well-lived. I’m looking forward to doing it again,” says Imran. Read more from his blog on ensuring water treatment in South Sudan.

If you missed our Doctors Without Borders South Sudan webcast last night, the full recording is here.

Learn more about the situation in South Sudan.

Situation Critical: An MSF Frontline Report from the Unfolding Refugee Crisis in South Sudan

Join us on Wednesday at 8pm ET for a live webcast discussion on the refugee crisis in South Sudan, featuring recently returned Doctors Without Borders field staff.

Reblog to help us raise awareness of the plight of Sudanese refugees living in appalling conditions in camps in South Sudan. They are falling ill and dying at rates alarmingly above accepted international standards for emergencies.

Join us next week for a live webcast discussion on the refugee crisis in South Sudan, featuring recently returned emergency field staff. Wednesday, August 29, 8p ET. Register here.

“Despite the rain, mud, the MSF clinic in Batil, South Sudan is always full.”

Follow Gregory Vandendaelen @gregvdd, Comms advisor for MSF, currently tweeting from Batil and Doro camps in South Sudan.

HEALTH CATASTROPHE IN SOUTH SUDAN REFUGEE CAMPS
New MSF Data Show Mortality and Malnutrition Rates Well Above Emergency Levels

Sudanese refugees living in appalling conditions in camps in South Sudan are falling ill and dying at rates alarmingly above accepted international standards for emergencies, the medical humanitarian organization MSF warned today.

Epidemiological data gathered by MSF in refugee camps in South Sudan reveal an average of five children dying per day in Yida camp in Unity State, home to 55,000 refugees. One in three children was found to be malnourished in Batil Camp in Upper Nile State, where MSF is treating 1,200 severely malnourished children. Flooded terrain and inadequate sanitation are the main contributors to the devastating health conditions, MSF said.

“The number of children dying in Yida camp is appalling, and the high number of children in our feeding program in Batil camp is just the tip of the iceberg,” said André Heller-Pérache, MSF head of mission. “The majority of patients in both camps are malnourished children, who are further weakened from diarrhoea, malaria, or respiratory infections, and quickly enter a vicious circle of illness leading to further complications and death. Our medical teams are working round the clock in desperate conditions trying to save lives.”

Photo: Women and children wade through a flooded section of Batil Camp to reach a water distribution point.
South Sudan 2012 © Nichole Sobecki