Posted on 22 July, 2014

Photo by Yann Libessart/MSF

Here, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff members provide a medical consultation inside the Muslim camp for internally displaced persons in Carnot Catholic Church in Central African Republic (CAR). Since December 2013, extreme violence in the Central African Republic continues, and frontlines continue to shift with regular clashes between anti-Balaka militias and ex-Séléka rebel groups, as well as criminal elements who act with impunity. Although international forces on the ground are growing in number, they are still unable to secure the protection of the civilian population, in particular the Muslim communities that have either fled or live in a few enclaves under international armed protection. In Carnot, around 900 Muslim internally displaced persons are staying at the Catholic Church in crowded and unsanitary conditions, guarded by African Union soldiers from Cameroon.MSF provides medical care, water and food, and sanitation. MSF has also been running  an HIV/TB project in the area  since 2010 and provides support to three health centers, mainly for conditions such as malaria, respiratory infections, and diarrhea. Read more: http://bit.ly/1std1C2

Photo by Laurence Hoenig/MSF

In a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) tent in Garoua-Boulaï District Hospital in Cameroon, MSF nurse Gervais changes the bandages of a patient transferred from the MSF hospital in Bouar, Central African Republic (CAR). MSF supports the hospital in Garoua-Boulaï: in one week, the team provided more than 900 medical consultations. Between December 2013 and January 2014, several hundred thousand people fled abuse and violence in CAR, seeking refuge in Chad and Cameroon. After several months of displacement, the Central Africans who reach Cameroon arrive exhausted and traumatized. Their health status is alarming, particularly in terms of nutrition, with nearly half of the children suffering from malnutrition. “There are still massive deficits in the distribution of aid to the hundreds of thousands who managed to escape the violence and reach Chad or Cameroon,” said Dr. Mego Terzian, MSF’s international president. “The bare minimum that can be done for this population that has suffered incredible violence, lost family members, and been uprooted from their homes, is to provide them with humanitarian assistance.” Read more: http://bit.ly/1std1C2