Albert Viñas has just returned from his assignment as emergency coordinator in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray. His role was to prepare the way for medical teams to access areas of eastern and central Tigray and assist people affected by the current crisis. Since violence broke out in Tigray in early November, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and roughly 60,000 have taken refuge across the border in Sudan.
From mid-December, MSF has gradually begun to support key hospitals in the main towns of eastern and central Tigray, including Adigrat, Axum and Adwa. Before MSF arrived most of these facilities were barely functional; they had been looted, were lacking medicines and most of the health staff had left. MSF has now started to support essential medical departments, such as the operating theater, the maternity ward and the emergency room, and to refer critical cases. In recent weeks MSF mobile teams have started visiting areas on the outskirts of towns.
When basic healthcare service does not exist, people cannot access or be referred to hospitals. If hospitals do not function properly and cannot be accessed, people die at home. When the health system is broken, vaccinations, disease detection and nutritional programmes do not happen.