Niger: Medics asked to help out
2005-08-12 09:36
Geneva - The Swiss branch of the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) made an urgent appeal on Thursday for doctors and nurses to volunteer for aid work in Niger amid signs that malnutrition there is worsening.
MSF (Doctors Without Borders) Switzerland said its doctors in the vast northwest African country were overburdened, with more than 1 000 severely malnourished children found in the past three weeks around the country's second largest town, Zinder.
"According to the teams, the situation they are facing is only the tip of the iceberg," said MSF in a statement.
Outlying villages had not been visited and the number of malnourished children arriving in treatment centres was constantly growing, it added.
"The situation is worse than we thought and significant human resources will need to be deployed urgently to respond efficiently to needs," MSF said in the appeal.
Appealing to medics for help
It called for experienced paediatric doctors and nurses to come forward if they were available over the next three months for a four-week mission in Niger.
The appeal was aimed outside Switzerland and had already been put to other national branches of MSF last week, said spokesperson Thomas Kurmann.
MSF Switzerland said it was already being forced to divert resources from children in Zinder who were suffering from moderate malnutrition, mainly under-fives who were getting weaker without food, and were in danger of becoming severely malnourished.
Severe malnutrition requires life-saving medical treatment. Malaria and diarrhoea were adding to the children's plight, MSF said.
The United Nations says 2.5 million of Niger's 12 million people are suffering food shortages, including 32 000 children with severe malnutrition who face death without the necessary food and medical treatment.