HUMANITARIAN CRISIS: ACUTE MALNUTRITION KILLS 33 CHILDREN IN BAMA IDP CAMP

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) an international NGO has started emergency nutritional and paediatric activities in Bama, Borno state, in response to a critical humanitarian situation among newly arrived internally displaced people (IDPs). 

In about 2 weeks between 2nd and 15th August, MSF teams reported that 33 young children had died in the camp. This figure is alarmingly high in relation to the total number of children under five years old, which is estimated to be around 6,000.

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The swell in the number of new arrivals who fled for safety from areas of military operations and Boko Haram infested area at the camp had resulted in overstretched facilities at the camp with thousands Sleeping without shelter from the sun, rain and mosquitoes bite. This condition had increased the susceptibility of displaced persons especially the children to life threatening conditions in the camp. 

At present, the only hospital in Bama, the Bama General Hospital, is not functional. Seriously ill children have to travel to Maiduguri for further treatment. However, many people in Bama cannot afford to pay for private transport to take them to the state capital. And even if they can, inpatient nutritional centres are overwhelmed. While setting up an inpatient facility in Bama, between 1 and 12 August MSF had to refer 26 patients to its own paediatric hospital in Maiduguri.