As more than a million people struggle to rebuild their tives in flood-affected parts of Mozambique following Cyclone Idai, emergency teams with the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontiéres (MSF) have started medical response activities.

"The cyclone has left a path of devastation with thousands of houses destroyed, which has left the community vulnerable and exposed to the elements," said Gert Verdonck, MSF's emergency coordinator in Beira. "The supply chain has been broken, creating food, clean water, and health care shortages. The scale of extreme damage will likely lead to a dramatic increase of waterbome diseases, skin infections, respiratory tract infections, and malaria in the coming days and weeks. Furthermore, the local health system and its regular services, such as HIV treatment and maternal health care, have also been disrupted."

Having no access to clean drinking water, many people have no option but to drink from contarriinated wells. "Some people are even resorting to drinking stagnant water by the side of the road. This, of course, results in an increase of patients suffering from diarrhea" Verdonck said. More recently, following the Mozambique's official declaration of cholcra, MSF is scaling up activities to treat people suffering from the disease and help curb its spread.

Outside of the health centers, MSF is running mobile clinics to provide primary health care to the most affected communities. These teams are visiting poorer areas of Beira and also some of the 37 transit centers where those whose homes have been destroyed and those who were rescued from flooded areas outside of Beira are sheltering.

To date, the mobile clinics have primarily treated cases of diarrhea, respiratory infections, skin and wound infections. When patients are in need of more substantial medical care, MSF transports them to the hospital or to a nearby health center.

Disponível em: <http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org>. Acesso em. abr. 2019. Adaptado.