Since early December 2010, following post-election violence and tension in Ivory Coast, tens of thousands of Ivorians have fled their country and sought refuge in Liberia to the west. More than 38,000 people, mainly women and children, are reported to have crossed the border and arrived in the Liberian region of Nimba County.

”Today we don’t see more people arriving, but with this massive influx of refugees, the medical structures are already overwhelmed, and the medical needs have significantly increased. For several weeks, we have been monitoring the situation and the medical support MSF can provide,” says Helga Ritter, country representative for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Liberia. “We have identified four sites across the county where both local people and refugees need our medical assistance. We are running a mobile clinic once a week in each location.”

Liberia © Katrin Kisswani/MSF
MSF staff are providing primary healthcare to Ivorian refugees as well as local people in Nimba County, Liberia.

In addition to the free primary healthcare provided to both locals and refugees, the MSF team has also put in place a referral system for patients who need to be treated in one of the two hospitals of Nimba County. MSF medical teams mainly treat respiratory infections, water diarrhea and malaria cases. An average of 120 consultations is being carried out every day.

“Ivorians have sought refuge in about 70 villages along the border,” says Katrin Kisswani, MSF coordinator for the project in Nimba County. “They say that they have fled their country because they feared violence. They are sheltered in local family houses. In some places refugees were given a house; in other villages they stay under plastic sheeting. Without a doubt, this situation is difficult for them and is also putting an additional strain on local families who where already coping with limited resources and living in precarious conditions.”

In the town of Bahn, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has just opened a camp for 15,000 people; the camp will shelter some of the Ivorian refugees who have been staying with local Liberian families for more than two months. The MSF team is doing medical screenings for people arriving at the camp, providing care when needed and vaccinating children under 15 years against measles. MSF is also providing technical support and providing free drugs to the Ministry of Health centre in Bahn.

The size of the area where refugees have scattered creates a challenge for MSF. “By being mobile, we try to monitor as best as we can the medical situation of the refugees and the capacity of local health services to cope with these arrivals,” says Katrin Kisswani. “We are prepared to change the locations where we organize the mobile clinics as well as to set up a larger medical response, if necessary.”

In Duékoué on the Ivorian side of the border, MSF teams are also providing medical care to local people and to other Ivorians displaced by the post-election violence.

MSF teams have been working in Liberia since 1990. In June 2010 MSF handed over to local authorities the last of its projects providing care in Liberian hospitals. MSF continues to work in the capital Monrovia, supporting the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in addressing the medical needs of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.

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