Health minister calls for humanitarian access to rural areas

Liberia's Health Minister, Peter Coleman, called on Monday for international peacekeepers to come and help improve security in the interior of the war-torn country so that humanitarian aid could reach desperate people living in rural areas. Coleman said much more needed to be done to bring food and medical aid to people affected by fighting in the interior, most of which is occupied by rebel forces. The arrival of peacekeepers would create a secure environment for aid workers to access rural areas, he added. He told reporters there had been a gradual improvement in the general health situation in the capital Monrovia, where large numbers of people were displaced from their homes by two rebel attacks on the city during June. He said international relief agencies had helped to contain the spread of diseases such as malaria and cholera in the city of one million people. "With more than 250,000 people sleeping in the open, you can imagine how high the incidence of disease can be," Coleman said. "We have an ambulance system moving people to hospitals. Drugs and medical supplies by MSF and UNICEF have made matters better." "We have just completed the first phase of immunisation of children [in Monrovia]. That helps to improve the protection of children," he added. "We are moving to the next stage where we will immunise more children." According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1,630 cases of cholera were reported in Monrovia by 15 July. These led to 15 deaths. However WHO said the fragile security situation made it difficult to obtain the true number of cholera cases. The UN agency said in a statement that non-governmental organizations, including MERLIN and Médecins sans Frontières (France and Belgium), had established diarrhoeal units at centres for internally displaced people in the city. WHO said it was working with UNICEF and the Liberian Ministry of Health to extend water chlorination activities to communities in and around Monrovia and was distributing educational materials on cholera prevention. A spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Virginia de la Guardia, told IRIN on Tuesday that food and items like blankets, mats, cooking pots, utensils and tarpaulins had been distributed to more than 14,000 people sheltering at the Samuel Doe sports complex, east of Monrovia and other centers in the city. "The ICRC has provided drugs to clinics in Kakata, Margibi County, Bong Mines, Bong County and Buchanan, Grand Bassa County," she added. Kakata is 48 km north of Monrovia, Bong Mines is 55 km northwest, while Buchanan is 150 km southeast of the capital. The emergency coordinator of Lutheran World Service, Kai Jelly, said his agency had brought in six containers of food and other items, such as clothes and cooking utensils for distribution to displaced people in Monrovia. UNICEF Liberia Country Director Cyrille Niameogo told IRIN on Friday that at least 128,000 children under the age of five and 230,000 women of child-bearing age had been vaccinated against measles in Monrovia. During a second stage of the vaccination campaign, UNICEF would try to inoculate 1.4 million children throughout Liberia, he added.