A CHILD DOCTOR IN NORTHERN BURKINA FASO.
Dr Nafissatou Kargougou has been working in Barsalogho clinic since October 2018. As of May 2019, Dr Karbogo currently treats an average of 35 malnourished children and babies per day. The remote clinic is grossly underfunded and, at the time of photography, lacking running water. Pigs wander thru the wards as desperate mothers bring their sick children to Dr Kargougou mostly from the villages now targeted by militants and the growing Islamic Jihadist insurgency. As the conflict spirals and humanitarian access becomes more difficult, the need for medical aid rise as Dr Kargougou struggles to keep the growing number of young patients alive.
"Lately we’ve been receiving so many severely and chronically malnourished children. This is likely linked to the insecurity and food insecurity in the region. Cases of malnutrition are much higher compared with the previous years. This year, there are more malnourished patients than other patients in the clinic. Many of the patients are from the northern Sahel regions and towns like Arbinda where there is now fighting and where water and food are hard to find".
The northern region of Burkina Faso is a fast-growing humanitarian crisis in the making due mostly to non-state armed groups and Islamic Jihadist factions all fighting amongst themselves and against both local and international military forces now located in the region. Some 170,00 people have been registered displaced as aid groups struggle to provide basics to this volatile area.
The unrest and lack of humanitarian support has now left some 28,494 children with severe acute malnutrition according to an UN/OCHA June 2019 report- an alarming increase in cases from previous years.
The photographer travelled with UN/OCHA to document the troubled northern region of Burkina Faso in May 2019.