Posted on 22 May, 2012
With the reduction of our activities in Jebel Si, more than 100,000 people in the region are left entirely without healthcare. If we are not allowed to deliver medicines and supplies to our hospital and health posts soon, disease outbreaks are likely to occur, and maternal and prenatal deaths are likely to increase and may even reach emergency levels.
Alberto Cristina, Doctors Without Borders operational manager for Sudan.
As a result of increasing restrictions imposed by Sudanese authorities, Doctors Without Borders has been forced to suspend most of its medical activities in the Jebel Si region of North Darfur State in Sudan.
Somebody Help: The Forgotten Population in North Darfur
In the remote Jebel Si area of North Darfur, MSF runs a hospital, five health posts, and a mobile clinic. These are the only health facilities in the area, and they serve a permanent population of 100,000, as well as about 10,000 seasonal nomads. The majority of MSF’s patients in Jebel Si are women and children.
But now a series of obstacles threaten to seriously hamper MSF’s ability to deliver medical assistance. Vital medical and logistical supplies have been prevented from reaching the area, work permits have not been granted, and physical access to the region has become increasingly difficult.
As a result of these obstacles, MSF has been forced to scale down its activities dramatically. Unless urgent steps are taken to rectify the situation, the people of Jebel Si will be faced with the reality of a future without essential health care.
Photo: An MSF staff member checks a child for malnutrition in Jebel Si, where obstacles threaten the continued operation of MSF’s health posts, the only such facilities in the area.
Sudan 2012 © MSF