MSF Is Serving Who? Triage Series Part 1
Saturday, 15. April 2006, 13:02:31
From the last post MSF mission is to serve the group that is considered the worst off. In Niger everyone is clearly worst off in more ways than one. Lets build a picture of the whole country and the efforts MSF and other NGO have undertaken to ward off malnutrition/food shortage.
If you like maps, then here is a political map in French of how Niger is carved.
As you scan this map you can see that Niger is divided into (states or counties) starting with the bottom (southern) lefthand (western) side to right (eastern) side we have...
Bordering Burkina Faso and Mali in gray-green is
- Tillabéri
Bordering Benin and Nigeria in yellow
- Dosso
Bordering Nigeria and Mali in light orange
- Tahoua
Bordering Nigeria in purple
- Maradi
Bordering Nigeria in deep or red orange
- Zinder
Bordering Nigeria and Chad (TChad) in pink
- Diffa
And lastly the northern portion of Niger bordering Mali, ALgeria, Libya, and Chad (TChad) in yellow
- Agadez
Now right below us is a map of MSF operations in Niger.
Looking at this map, there is alot of information to question.
- Why is most of MSF operations located in the states of Tahoua, Maradi, and Zinder?
- Why is there no operations in Dosso and Agadez states?
Where do we go next?
If you look at the French political map above you can see a legend (original French) displaying transportation networks.
Translated in English
Niger has no RAILROAD. No railway. Even though there are reports of Niger having coal deposits which could fuel steam-driven trains.
All that is there is airports and roads that lead mostly into trails (dirt sand roads) outside areas of high populations and transport. There is an east to west primary road connecting all the state of the southern most areas of Niger running from Niamey to Diffa.
With limited network of primary roads surrounding the southern state capital with airports, we can see based on MSF map that logistically it appears they could only reach very limited destinations within Niger. There are reports of World Food Programme not able to get food aid transported timely enough throughout Niger. Still MSF should have the BEST (being the largest humanitarian medical organization) in technology and personnel to overcome such. However to have a mass movement of that scale oil would be required and Niger currently has no visible stock within its border to fuel this effort. You can only go as far as the batteries and gas will take you which correlates with how much money is available. This is a common occurrance in the world today and it does have a name. Triage.
- These two questions are related to observations of the MSF operational map so...
- Why is most of MSF operations located in the states of Tahoua, Maradi, and Zinder?
- Why is there no operations in Dosso and Agadez states?
Segments of reports from WFP in Niger.
...
Which Areas Are Most Affected?
According to the CFSVA preliminary findings, households in the Sahelian zones of Tillaberi, Tahoua, Maradi, Zinder and Diffa reported the most severe effects on agricultural production from drought and locust impacts; around 40 percent of families were already using negative coping strategies such as reducing the quality and quantity of meals. The following regions have the highest proportion of food insecure and vulnerable households:
- The most critical area is in sparse/open grassland in and around Northern Tillaberi, where 47 percent of households are food insecure or vulnerable. Production suffered particularly; the harvest of the food-insecure households was only 12 percent of the potential.
- In sparse grass/desert areas of North Tahoua, the extreme north of Maradi and parts of Zinder and Diffa, 37 percent of households are food insecure or vulnerable. The 2004 harvest was only 15 percent of the potential.
- In medium-dry savanna areas of Central Tillaberi and Northern Dosso, 39 percent of the households are considered food insecure or vulnerable. The 2004 harvest was less than half of the usual but with hardly any locust damage. The food insecure households in this area rely heavily on their own produce (65 percent)
- The dry savanna areas, mainly south of Maradi and Zinder, has 30 percent of households that are food insecure/vulnerable. Most of these households (73 percent) depend on their own food production. Last year’s harvest was reduced to one third of the potential, although the damage from locusts was modest compared to other areas.
...
Looking at this map above which is apart of the PDF report we see here that Dosso and Tillabéri areas are colored of high prevalence of food insecurity. While Tahoua, Maradi, and Zinder show moderate results.
With data such as above, we would think that one would serve the most critical or severe emergency area FIRST but that is not in this case with comparing it with the MSF operational map above. Obviously, we should give MSF the benefit of the doubt. Let's consider this.
...
Where are the food-insecure households?
- Most food-insecure households are in the regions of:
- Dosso and Tahoua — 50 percent are food-insecure in these regions;
- Tillaberi and Agadez — 33 percent;
- Maradi — 30 percent; and
- Diffa and Zinder — 15 percent.
- Most severely food-insecure households are in the regions of:
- Tahoua — 24 percent of households, 435,300 people are severely food-insecure in that region;
- Dosso — 19 percent, 261,600 people;
- Tillaberi — 16 percent, 298,000 people; and
- Maradi — 10 percent, 199,900 people.
- Moderately food-insecure households are found in the regions of:
- Dosso — 33 percent are moderately food-insecure in that region;
- Agadez — 29 percent;
- Tahoua — 25 percent;
- Tillaberi — 19 percent; and
- Maradi — 19 percent.
...
Accompanying map found in this PDF report:
EFSA - Emergency Food Security Assessment
3% - 5%
6% - 10%
11% - 15%
15% - 18%
EFSA levels
Severe
Moderate
At risk
In norishment or nutrition security
Now this map above is in the October 2005 report. About a complete month after August 2005 report. As we can visualize here, Dosso and Tillabéri are in code red as the most severe for food insecurity.
My last comment on this instance.
Is anybody wearing their eye or reading glasses when they read these reports and give recommendations. I really mean it.
This benign behavior can be summarized simply as triage. Look for symptoms of triage coming directly to a neighborhood near you.
Short summary of MSF and Dosso
The northern region of Dosso percentagewise for homes with food insecurity is greater than the southern region of Maradi and Zinder. However MSF operational map indicates no efforts found in Dosso region. Only one clean operation for Tillabéri. Just a small addon to this discussion the Diffa state of Niger has a southern pocket of critical food insecurity in its eastern frontier bordering Chad(TChad) but a MSF operation in the state of Diffa is outside this area to the southern frontier bordering Nigeria. Strange. Please note while MSF may have not indicated its stance with leaving Dosso region unattended, there are other organizations taking on the task. One such organization operating mainly in Dosso is Plan International.
MSF and Agadez region
With Agadez region come to find out that the United Nation has placed that region under security alert.
The UN has five phases of security:
- Phase 1 - Precautionary
- Phase 2 - Restricted Movement
- Phase 3 - Relocation
- Phase 4 - Program Suspension
- Phase 5 - Evacuation
The country of Niger is under security phase 0, with the exception of Agadez region which is under phase 1.
This is understandable since this is not about WAR but RELIEF and the world does not want to lose its most skilled professional in such an event. This should be enough for now. More questions than answer in this session. To be continued.
WIDGETIZE