Increasingly intense armed confrontations in recent weeks in Ivory Coast, together with political gridlock, have had serious consequences on the country’s population, the international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today.

Fighting has led to new displacements of people in the capital, Abidjan, and in the western region of the country. Insecurity and shortages of medicine resulting from international sanctions have made it very difficult for victims of violence – and all those in need – to obtain care.

© Gaël Turine / VU'.
New refugees are reaching the village of Kparblee in Liberia, bordering Ivory Coast. This family just arrived from Toulepleu, where fighting erupted  between pro-Outtara forces and the army loyal to disputed president Gbagbo.

Only one hospital continues to function normally in Abidjan’s Abobo district, home to approximately two million residents. The violence there has forced most of the health workers at the other two district hospitals to flee. Since late February, MSF has been working with Ministry of Health staff to provide emergency care at the Adobo Sud Hospital.

"Over the course of two weeks, we treated 129 people in the emergency room, including 81 with gunshot and knife wounds, and we operated on 31 serious cases," says medical doctor and MSF emergency manager Mego Terzian. In addition, MSF increased the number of hospital beds from 12 to 20, in order to respond to the influx of wounded patients.

However, people are afraid to leave their homes to seek treatment at the hospital. Travel within the city is risky because of outbreaks of fighting and blockades erected in the streets by young men armed with clubs and machetes. The insecurity has also caused many people to flee. In recent weeks, displaced persons in Abidjan have set up approximately 20 camps; health conditions in the camps are uncertain.

The confrontations have also led to major movements of people in the western part of the country, with more than 82,000 people taking refuge in neighbouring Liberia – including 45,000 over the last three weeks alone.

Since December 2010, MSF teams have been working in Liberia and western Ivory Coast, where they are providing primary health care in facilities abandoned by healthcare staff and lacking in medicines. The recent resumption of fighting has further worsened the situation for Ivorians.

MSF teams in Ivory Coast are providing care to displaced persons and residents in the cities of Duékoué and Guiglo, and are preparing to provide care in Bangolo and Zouan-Hounien. However, instability makes it difficult to access people who are displaced, particularly in areas close to the front line.

Armed conflict is not the only obstacle to treatment

Commercial and financial sanctions imposed by the international community against Ivory Coast, coupled with transportation problems, have led to shortages in medicines and medical supplies. Health facilities in many regions of the country lack basic medicines and treatment supplies for chronic and acute illnesses, particularly for kidney dialysis.

MSF's activities in Ivory Coast are funded exclusively by private donors, ensuring its complete independence.

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