188 People Starved to Death Within One Month at Borno IDP Camp

 

File photo: An IDP camp

 

The Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has revealed that at least 188 people have starved to death in the last one month at a camp for internally displaced persons in Bama, Borno State.

 

A statement by the group, known as Doctors Without Borders in English, said “a catastrophic humanitarian emergency is currently unfolding,” at the camp where 24,000 people, including 15,000 children (among them 4,500 under five years) are sheltered.

 

“Since 23 May, at least 188 people have died in the camp – almost six people per day – mainly from diarrhoea and malnutrition,” the statement said.

 

“This is the first time MSF has been able to access Bama, but we already know the needs of the people there are beyond critical,” said Ghada Hatim, MSF head of mission in Nigeria.

 

“We are treating malnourished children in medical facilities in Maiduguri and see the trauma on the faces of our patients who have witnessed and survived many horrors.”

 

During its assessment, the MSF team counted 1,233 cemetery graves located near the camp which had been dug in the past year.

 

Of those graves, 480 were for children.