An international medical organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), has decried the humanitarian crisis rocking the North-West, saying the area was dominated by hunger and diseases.
The MSF stated this in a statement issued from a hospital it supported in Anka, Zamfara State.
The group’s Head of Mission in Nigeria, Froukje Pelsma, according to the statement, said, “The lives of people in North-West Nigeria are now dominated by hunger, abuse and preventable diseases.
“What is happening here is a humanitarian emergency that needs urgent attention and a proper response. The authorities and all relevant stakeholders should assume their responsibilities towards affected communities.”
The MSF’s Dr Godwin Emudanohwo, stated that the crisis in Zamfara State was more pathetic.
He stated, “Our teams in Zamfara State have witnessed an alarming rise in preventable illnesses associated with a lack of food, drinking water, shelter and vaccinations.
“Children keep on arriving here (in the hospital) in a very bad condition. In the first four months of 2021, our teams in Anka, Zurmi and Shinkafi treated 10,300 children for severe acute malnutrition, measles, malaria, diarrhoea and respiratory infections. This is 54 per cent higher than last year.”
The group, therefore, called for an urgent humanitarian response for people in the region who were desperately short of food, drinking water, shelter, protection and basic services, including healthcare.
