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Thank you for signing up to Jarida, our monthly newsletter, where we’ll try to keep you informed about some of the most pressing humanitarian crises around the world, as well as interesting stories from our work in more than 70 countries.
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Snakebite Awareness
Last Thursday 19th September 2019 marked the second International Snakebite Awareness Day. Every year, an estimated 5.4 million people are bitten by snakes and up to 2.7 million are bitten by venomous snakes, resulting in the death of more than 100,000 people and life-long disfigurement and disability for 400,000 more.
Though it’s thought the actual figures are likely to be much higher, as disease surveillance in many rural parts of Africa– where most poisonous snakes are found – is chronically under-resourced and health staff frequently lack the skills to diagnose and treat snakebites. Venomous snakebites predominantly affect the rural poor, including migrant workers, farmers, and displaced people fleeing conflict or violence, they kill more people than any other disease on WHO’s Neglected Tropical Diseases list. MSF treats snakebites across East Africa including South Sudan ,Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya but our teams struggle with the lack of availability of effective anti-venom.
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In Bujumbura, accident victims get back on their feet for free
“L'Arche de Kigobe” was a trauma centre set up by MSF to treat people with injuries sustained in the violence during the crisis that shook Burundi in 2015. The following year, as violence-related cases decreased, MSF decided to also treat people with accidental injuries. As a result, patient numbers jumped from 200 per month to nearly 2,000 and now the centre mainly provides care for victims of road accidents as well as people with burns and survivors of sexual violence. Services include emergency care, physiotherapy, radiology, surgery, orthopedics, psycho-social care and laboratory. Last year MSF teams conducted 22,400 emergency consultations and performed more than 4,000 surgeries – almost 11 a day.
READ MORE »
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MSF calls for an international, independent committee for Ebola vaccination to overcome WHO’s lack of transparency in DRC
More than a year into the ongoing Ebola outbreak in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the disease has killed over 2,100 people. While the pace of transmission appears to have slightly slowed in recent months, some areas have been active hotspots for over a year now and other hotspots have become active again, after extended periods without reporting new cases. A significant issue is that the pace of vaccination activities is too slow and only a fraction of the eligible population is benefiting from this critical tool. One reason is the lack of transparency concerning vaccine supply chains by the World Health Organisation, who imposes strict limits on the number of doses deployed in the field.
READ MORE »
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DISPLACEMENT UNIT
Cash delivery in humanitarian interventiosn
MSF´s Displacement Unit organises a series of informal gatherings for humanitarian innovators based in Nairobi called “Show and Tell”. The key objective of the latest Show and Tell was to learn about the experiences of cash programs and to understand its practicality during a response to a humanitarian crisis.
The introduction of cash or voucher assistance as an alternative to non-food items distribution, although not new, remains under development and is not yet a consolidated practice. This new model of aid delivery offers as many opportunities as risks. It changes the usual roles and engagement relationship between donors, operational implementers and the populations in need. As such, we asked the group: what are the key drivers and challenges of cash assistance? When should it be chosen over other models? What assessment tools are available? What is the best use of technology?
READ MORE HERE ( PDF ) | ABOUT THE DISPLACEMENT UNIT
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EMERGENCY RESPONSE
MSF responds to Malaria Outbreaks in North-Western Kenya
At the end of August, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) deployed a medical team to Baringo County to assist the county’s Ministry of Health in containing a malaria outbreak that is affecting the community. MSF has already seen 878 patients and treated 100 people who tested positive for malaria, our teams also distributed 550 mosquito nets to residents in and around the affected areas, and provided medical supplies to boost the county’s stocks.
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Kenya: Hope for snakebite victims in search for antivenom
In February, the Health ministry, the county government and Doctors without Borders (MSF) launched a three-month (mid-April to June) training targeting snakebite prone parts of Tiaty and Baringo North constituencies.
Read more in the Daily Nation »
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