Submitted by Medical Teams International
Many are calling it the world’s fastest growing refugee settlement – and Bidi Bidi is exploding on a daily basis with thousands of women and children in dire need of basic health services. Now an $850,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will help Medical Teams International (MTI), a Pacific Northwest-based nonprofit with a Redmond office, boost its urgent work in northern Uganda.
Medical Teams has been working with South Sudanese refugees in Uganda since 2013, when women and children began moving into the northern part of the country to flee renewed conflict between warring factions. On average, nearly 4000 refugees are arriving each day in Bidi Bidi, which is the largest settlement. As of November 2016, more than 200,000 people are living within a 250 square kilometer settlement— 86 percent of whom are women and children. This whole population is served by only one local hospital and a handful of make-shift medical facilities.
“These families have been forced to leave everything behind and make their way through the bush before they arrive in Uganda,” said Martha Holley Newsome, chief executive officer at MTI. “This grant from the Gates Foundation will provide much-needed funding for medical services and supplies, as well as local staff support. Health is an often overlooked factor in a refugee crisis—and it’s critical we address this, particularly for women and children, to ensure a livable existence for these displaced communities.”
MTI has been providing basic health care needs for refugees in the region – with as many as 36,000 health consultations in one month alone. Staff are working 14 hour days, seven days a week in facilities with no electricity or running water. Their work has continued to grow in an attempt to provide life-saving medical care.
The United Nations predicts that South Sudanese refugees in West Nile may reach one million people by next summer.
MTI is accepting donations to help with this growing crisis. Donations to help refugees fleeing South Sudan can be made at www.medicalteams.org.
