Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has sent a medical team to Macina, a town on the Niger River in Mali's Ségou region, to reinforce health services after a new wave of displaced families arrived, Studio Tamani reported on Thursday. The families arrived "this week", it said, adding to the thousands already registered since attacks on the villages of Souleye and Touara in September.
"The direct consequence of these displacements is an impact on existing services, notably health services," MSF's head of mission in Mali, Kouadjo Dominique, told Studio Tamani. "We therefore quickly dispatched a medical team from our project based in Ténenkou to support the existing system." The report gives no figure for the new arrivals and no date for the team's deployment.
Abdoulaye Kassogué, who runs the site for displaced people in Macina, described conditions for the newcomers. "Many of them sleep outside," he said. "They left everything behind, including their blankets and other belongings." The site also lacks shelter, water and hygiene supplies, he said, and the newcomers need food, blankets and mosquito nets. "We are asking for help."
DW reported on 3 November that Macina's capacity to receive displaced people was "totally saturated".