Côte d'Ivoire: enhanced medical care for conflict victims
| Publisher | International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) |
| Publication Date | 20 April 2011 |
| Cite as | International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Côte d'Ivoire: enhanced medical care for conflict victims , 20 April 2011, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4dafd1fc2.html [accessed 30 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Recent fighting and other violence in Côte d'Ivoire have seriously disrupted access to medical care for tens of thousands of people. "Many hospitals and health-care centres that were looted and abandoned are now in urgent need of medicines, dressing materials and other medical items," said Popol Lobo Biduaya, who coordinates the ICRC's medical activities in the country.
In western Côte d'Ivoire, but also in Korhogo, Bouaké and Man in the north, and in San Pedro and Aboisso in the south, the ICRC has brought supplies to 17 hospitals over the past few days. The items include bandage kits, basic drugs and drugs for treating malaria, especially to prevent infection in pregnant women. A total of 30 kits, each of which contains enough basic drugs to treat 1,000 people for three months, have been distributed. Similar items will be delivered to several medical facilities in Abidjan later this week.
"Yesterday, two mobile clinics began entering Abidjan neighbourhoods to provide care for the sick and wounded," said Mr Lobo Biduaya. "Priority is given to displaced people in reception centres that have no health units, and to needy people in areas where health-care centres are under particularly severe strain." Each mobile clinic is staffed by a doctor, a nurse and an Ivorian Red Cross midwife.
Since 25 March, two mobile clinics have been delivering services throughout the Toulepleu, Bin Houyé and Zouan Hounien areas in western Côte d'Ivoire near the Liberian border. To date, they have conducted over 900 consultations and provided treatment for sick and wounded people.
In addition, the ICRC and the Red Cross Society of Côte d'Ivoire are maintaining their emergency aid for displaced people and other conflict victims in the west of the country and in Abidjan. In particular, they are distributing food and other basic necessities, and helping displaced people obtain water and maintain proper hygiene.
