International Medical Corps Assists Displaced Kenyans - Humanitarian Crisis Worsens

Nairobi, Kenya/Los Angeles, CA –International Medical Corps’ Kenya team is assisting displaced people from the slums who are in urgent need of emergency health services after ongoing violence in the wake of contested elections. “We will provide medical services through mobile clinics in the slums and other areas in Nairobi where we are seeing spontaneous settlements,” says Peter McOdida, IMC country director in Kenya. “Women and children in particular need medical care.” In cooperation with the Kenyan Red Cross IMC will determine how best to respond to the needs of these people, who have had to flee their homes and have been left without income and food. IMC staff reports that up to 5,000 families are now settling in and around Jamhuri Park in Nairobi, and IMC is preparing to provide immediate services to them. In Nairobi alone 60,000 people are believed to be displaced.

People pick through the rubble of their destroyed houses and shops in Mathare slum after days of post-election riots in Nairobi.

REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

After a week of widespread violence following disputed general elections just over a week ago, close to 500 have been killed, including many children. The UN now puts the figure of displaced people at 250,000 throughout Kenya and says that half a million people are in need of major humanitarian assistance. Many homes have been destroyed and businesses looted in brutal clashes between political opponents and marauding gangs.

One of the hardest hit urban areas is Kibera, a vast slum in Nairobi where whole areas have been burnt and looted. IMC provides treatment for 3,400 tuberculosis patients and supports HIV-infected mothers with food and income-generating programs. Services at the TB clinic resumed on Friday, but only 20 people came to get their medication compared to the 200 patients IMC staff regularly sees. While most fighting has stopped, the situation remains tense. “If TB patients default on their treatment, they will have to restart the course and could eventually develop drug resistance,” says McOdida. IMC staff also warns that most people living in Kibera are now left without any income and food with the vast majority being casual and day laborers, who have not been able to work since the elections.

In Nyanza and Rift Valley, two provinces in western Kenya that have experienced an eruption of violence and brutal clashes, International Medical Corps is conducting assessments and will respond to the most urgent needs as soon as possible in collaboration with the Kenyan Red Cross. Two hospitals in the western town of Eldoret reported to UNICEF that 40 percent of their 700 in-patients are children with burn injuries and another 1,000 were treated as out-patients. The clinics lack immunization supplies, water purification equipment and latrines. Other hospitals report cases of malnutrition in children.

According to media reports there is a sharp increase in rape cases as a result of indiscriminate violence and lawlessness in some parts of the country. Further reports indicate men and boys also have been sexually assaulted and mutilated. IMC is now exploring the possibility of providing psycho-social and mental health services as part of a recovery and rehabilitation program. IMC has successfully run similar programs in several countries where people have experienced large-scale violence and loss.

International election observers have raised concerns about the elections process and implied serious irregularities. In a preliminary report the EU Observation Mission says the elections have fallen short of key international and regional standards. Despite some initial international diplomatic initiatives there have been no talks scheduled to attempt breaking the political deadlock.