MSF says nearly 200 refugees starved in Nigerian city

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - More than a dozen children are starving in the northeastern Nigerian city of Bama, where nearly 200 refugees fleeing from militant group Boko Haram have died in the past month, according Doctors Without Borders.

In a statement released Wednesday, the aid group, with the French acronym MSF, said its team visited the IDP camp in Bama, housing 24,000 displaced people, including 15,000 children.

“A rapid nutritional screening of more than 800 children found that 19 percent were suffering from severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form of condition,” the aid group said.

Sixteen severely malnourished children at immediate risk of death were referred to the MSF feeding center in the city of Maiduguri, according to the statement.

MSF said its team also counted 1,233 graves located near the IDP camp in Bama in the past year, and 480 of them were children’s graves.

“This shows how critical the situation is, far beyond the emergency threshold,” Ghada Harim, MSF head of mission in Nigeria, said in the statement.

MSF said at least 188 persons have died from diarrhea and dehydration since May 23. These figures constitute six people dying from diarrhea every day.

Boko Haram’s seven-year rebellion and attack on villages in Nigeria’s northeast has left more than a million people displaced, the International Organization For Migration said in a report on Jan.15, 2015.