In June, more than 850 Sudanese with war wounds, mainly from bullets, were received at Adré hospital in just three days—one of the largest influxes of wounded patients that MSF has ever had to manage. As the surgical unit was overwhelmed, we quickly erected an inflatable 200-bed hospital.
In the same month, hundreds of thousands of people previously trapped in Sudan’s West Darfur state started to arrive in eastern Chad. This dramatically increased needs in all areas—health care, shelter, food aid, water and sanitation—in places where resources were already scarce. In response, we opened a clinic in Adré transit camp and expanded our emergency response in pediatrics, women’s health, emergency medicine, mental health support, treatment for victims of sexual violence, and nutrition in Adré and in the newly built camps in Arkoum, Ourang, and Metché.
We supported the health center and opened two health posts in Arkoum and built a field hospital in Ourang. In Metché, we started to build another inpatient facility towards the end of the year. Our teams also distributed water and built latrines in all these sites.
Aside from our emergency assistance to refugees, another priority in Chad in 2023 was to support vaccination campaigns and improve the routine vaccination program. In January, in collaboration with the health authorities, we vaccinated hundreds of thousands of children against measles in an effort to curb the epidemic in the capital, N’Djamena. We also provided vaccinations in 15 nomadic camps in the city, and further south in the Tandjile and Moyenne Chari regions. Following intercommunal clashes in the Logone Oriental region, we supported health facilities in treating the wounded and referred patients requiring surgical care to Moundou hospital.
We continued to partner with the Ministry of Health to improve access to pediatric, obstetric and maternal health care in Moissala, as well as services for children, including treatment for malnutrition, in Massakory and N’Djamena. We have also helped to upgrade facilities in the capital by setting up a blood bank in Toukra hospital and constructing a new emergency room at Gozator hospital after the previous one was destroyed in a fire.
In addition, MSF is working to develop community-based health care to prevent and treat malaria and other common diseases, training staff, and supporting health centers and local health programs in Massakory, Moissala, and Sila.
