The international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has warned of severe consequences for young children arriving in Bama town of Borno state without adequate assistance.
It says more than 10,000 people have arrived at a camp for displaced people at the Government Science Secondary School since April this year, many of them in poor health, without access to shelter or healthcare.
Newly displaced people fled areas where they were unable to sustain livelihoods; others fled areas where the military is engaging Boko Haram.
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The number of people arriving at GSSS has outstripped its 25,000-person capacity since the end of July, leaving many without shelter.
“Well over 6,000 people currently sleep in the open with no protection from the heat, rains and mosquitoes,” said Katja Lorenz, MSF’s representative in Abuja.
“People do not even have basic utensils to cook their dry food rations and water is not available in adequate quantities to meet the minimum needs. A lot of children are already in a critical state upon arrival, and poor assistance and access to healthcare further deteriorates their condition.”
In the first two weeks of August, 33 children have died on the camp. MSF teams say the number is alarming considering children aged under five number around 6,000 on the camp.
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The group says many children are severely malnourished and facing medical complications that require intensive care and close follow-up.
It is concerned about spikes in number of patients with malaria and diarrhoea in ongoing rainy season.
The lack of an inpatient nutrition and paediatric health facility in Bama is having catastrophic consequences for children, it said in a statement.
With Bama General Hospital not functional, seriously ill children have to be taken to Maiduguri for treatment. But not many people can afford private transport.
And inpatient nutritional centres are already overwhelmed. MSF referred 26 children to its paediatric hospital in Maiduguri in the first two weeks of August.
“Despite the presence of government agencies and international humanitarian organisations in Bama, the health and nutrition situation has been allowed to deteriorate up to the current crisis point,” Lorenz added.
“Measures must be urgently taken to avoid overcrowding and ensure dignified living conditions in the GSSS camp. Secondary and emergency healthcare for both IDPs and the resident population must be scaled up as quickly as possible”.
The charity says its launch of inpatient services for severely malnourished five-year-olds and paediatric care for 15-year-olds with severe malaria and other ailments in a 30-bed facility is only a “short-term response to the critical humanitarian situation in Bama.”
It said authorities need to “urgently address humanitarian needs before the situation deteriorates further.”
