MSF AUSTRALIA | CAMEROON 2017

Médecins Sans Frontières increased activities in north Cameroon to provide emergency care for victims of violence

Since 2011, the conflict between armed opposition groups and the Nigerian army has forced hundreds of thousands of people from northeast Nigeria to seek refuge in Cameroon, Chad and Niger. During the past three years, violence has increasingly spilled over from Nigeria into the three neighbouring countries, causing further displacement. By the end of the year, there were around 88,000 refugees and 240,000 internally displaced people in Cameroon.

Since the first suicide attacks on Cameroonian soil in Maroua in 2015, there have been frequent bombings in the Far North region. In 2017 alone, Médecins Sans Frontières recorded over 58 such attacks in the region – more than one each week. In response, Médecins Sans Frontières scaled up emergency surgical activities and boosted capacity to treat mass casualties following attacks. In the town of Mora, close to the Nigerian border, Médecins Sans Frontières rehabilitated the operating theatre and set up an ambulance referral service at the local hospital. The team stabilised patients and transferred those in need of specialised surgical care to Maroua hospital.

Médecins Sans Frontières also rehabilitated the operating theatre and post-operative ward at Maroua hospital in 2016 and now manages its surgical department. During 2017 our teams carried out 3,136 surgical interventions in Maroua. In Mora, our staff worked in two health centres serving displaced people and local residents, and vaccinated 28,748 children against diseases including polio, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles and hepatitis B. Médecins Sans Frontières also trained Ministry of Health staff in the management of large influxes of wounded patients and donated mass casualty kits to local hospitals.