How is MSF reacting?
As a first short term response, a mobile medical team visits about half a dozen locations in and around the provincial capital Birao and is treating up to 100 patients per day. The main health problem is malaria, which is particularly prevalent as the wet season lasts up to ten month in the region. But the team also comes across acute respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases, indicators of the bad living conditions for people. We also distributed emergency relief items to displaced people: blankets as it is quite cold there at night, mosquito nets impregnated with repellant to help people protect themselves from malaria, plastic sheeting and soap to improve the shelter and hygiene of those who live in the forest. Apart from the assistance in and around the provincial capital Birao, we are currently expanding our activities to the area of Gordil, about 200 kilometers or a ten-hour drive to the west. Relief items are being distributed to the population who are hiding in the bush in
