Health fears for civilians

There is concern that the health plight of civilians in Sierra Leone may become desperate as renewed fighting continues to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching populations at risk, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reported on Monday.

The renewed fighting has had a severe impact on the delivery of
humanitarian assistance in the Northern Province and elsewhere in the country. A food shortage in rebel-held Makeni, now cut off from supplies from the capital, Freetown, has resulted in children under five years showing the first signs of malnutrition, MSF said.

Meanwhile, the northern town of Kabala has received an influx of over 2,000 displaced people and MSF has in the last two weeks admitted 102 children to its feeding programme there. And at the MSF centre in Kambia, more than 60 infants who were receiving treatment for malnourishment and their carers have been forced to flee following renewed fighting between government forces and rebels.

The food situation is likely to worsen before the harvesting of the rainy season crop but despite increased needs, MSF said, it has had to reduce its nutritional programmes because of the insecurity.

MSF warned that the health situation, "already precarious, could become desperate". In Kambia, Bombali and Tonkolili districts in the Northern Province, MSF has suspended its support for clinics, hospitals and nutritional programmes. Some 120,000 children were vaccinated against measles in Bombali, Tonkolili and Mile 91, but the programme has been cancelled, leaving many children unprotected.

In Kabala, an MSF vaccination campaign had reached only one-quarter of the infants targeted when insecurity stopped it.