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Australian emergency workers respond to Niger’s food crisis SYDNEY, 17 August 2005 - The first two volunteers from the Australian section of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) will arrive in Niger this week, as the international medical aid organisation gears up its response to the famine, affecting 3.5 million people. Sydney nurse Sarah Moberly, and Julie Holden, a midwife from Dunedin in New Zealand, have already departed for two of the worst stricken regions in the West African country. Sarah’s ultimate destination is one of the MSF therapeutic feeding centres to be set up in east Niger, where high levels of malnutrition are expected. “I am really excited to be on my way,” she said before her departure. “We will be setting up a new project with an emergency team in Difa, in the east of Niger. The needs are very great and we will get to work quickly.” With prior missions in Mozambique, Afghanistan and Uganda to her credit, this is Sarah’s fourth mission with MSF. Sarah Moberly is the first Australian nurse to be sent to the crisis-hit region of the Sahel with MSF, and it is predicted there will be more volunteers from MSF Australia leaving soon. MSF is also intervening in three regions of southern Niger, in Maradi, Tahoua, and Zinder, operating six therapeutic feeding centres, five paediatric care units and 33 out-patient feeding programmes, where more than 1,200 children a week are being admitted for emergency feeding. So far 16,000 severely malnourished children have been admitted in MSF nutritional programmes between January and July 2005 in southern Niger, and the organisation is now targeting food distributions to 50,000 additional moderately malnourished children. Julie Holden is heading to Zinder, where she is expecting to be managing therapeutic feeding programs for the next three months. Global acute malnutrition in the area is estimated at 14 to 15%, severe malnutrition at 3 to 4% (according to a nutritional survey completed in April by MSF). Given the population, this means that 4,000 to 5,000 children need therapeutic feeding. MSF now has 80 international staff and 740 national staff in Niger. MSF has been calling for a quicker international response to the famine since April this year, pointing to structural aid problems, the drought, and locust plague, for the explosion of hungry Nigeriens unable to pay for food in the markets. Médecins Sans Frontières has been in Niger since 1985. The MSF office in Sydney recruits health professionals and aid workers who are ready for emergency assignment worldwide. MSF Australia has 94 people in more than 30 countries around the world. Last year the organisation sent 115 volunteers from Australia and New Zealand through its Sydney office. Please see the website for more details www.msf.org.au Contact: James Nichols or Philippe Tanguy, MSF Australia, 02
8570 2600.
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