Since January, over 424 people have been admitted to the Infectious Disease Hospital and a paediatric hospital, both in Kano city. The first cases were seen in mid-May but the outbreak exploded in the last few weeks, with over 300 cases reported by MSF and the State Ministry of Health in the last week of June. By the end of June there were over 1,200 cases and 23 deaths. But despite this great wealth, the local people live in poverty. In the heart of the Delta, in the federal state of Bayelsa, MSF is making preparations for a project to fight malaria, the No. 1 killer in this remote, watery region.
Medical care is a luxury here, while high unemployment and conflicts are everyday reality.
A report by press officer Malou Nozeman. MSF trained over 200 monitoring and evaluation officers in 11 northern states, to monitor, report, control and respond to outbreaks. As the impact of the programme was seen to be limited, in 1999, the EPR programme was reduced in its scope and now covers only Kano state. Malaria is the number one cause of mortality and morbidity in the region.