The COVID-19 pandemic must not overshadow other urgent health needs
By Abdallah Hussein, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) head of mission in Burkina Faso
While COVID-19 makes headlines around the world, less visible humanitarian crises continue to escalate.
MSF has been providing free, quality health care, water, and basic relief items to people in eastern Burkina Faso since May 2019.
The insecurity in eastern Burkina Faso is hampering aid efforts and poses enormous challenges to health workers trying to reach some communities, especially people living in remote villages.
Our teams currently provide medical and humanitarian assistance to both displaced people and host communities in the East, Sahel, North, and North-Centre regions, including primary and secondary health care; vaccination campaigns; water, sanitation, and hygiene; and ad-hoc distributions of basic relief items.
Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Burkina Faso in early March, we set up two specific projects aimed at tackling the disease in the capital, Ouagadougou, and in the country's second city, Bobo-Dioulasso, with treatment centers in dedicated facilities and support to other health facilities and community outreach activities.
