Chad: HI cares for gunshot victims fleeing Sudan

Adré Hospital, on the border with Sudan

Humanity & Inclusion is working at Adré Hospital in partnership with Doctors Without Borders France to help the people injured in the conflict in Sudan. Since July, HI has already provided care to approximately 150 people.

An HI team of three rehabilitation and physical therapy experts is working with Doctors Without Borders' physical therapist, helping around 20 patients a day. Soon, three more specialists from HI will join the team. Many of the patients have undergone surgery performed by Doctors Without Borders; HI provides follow-up rehabilitation care.

Gunshot injuries

Most of the casualties are men with gunshot wounds in their lower limbs. There are also many cases of head trauma.

Gunshot injuries often require resuscitation, surgery and sometimes amputation. They can cause excruciating pain, large wounds at risk of infection and functional limitations that can lead to permanent disability, especially without early rehabilitation.

A long recovery

Depending on the type of trauma, rehabilitation can take months or even years. It is a long journey, during which the patient may have a temporary disability and find everyday activities to be challenging. HI intervenes at an early stage to optimize functional capacities, prevent complications, promote recovery and improve autonomy.

In the coming days, HI will be sending in a team to provide mental health support to victims of the conflict in Sudan.

”The needs are great and they will continue to grow. Fortunately, we started delivering rehabilitation care very early on. We can see the impact on patients. They are starting to walk and smile again. We want to rapidly make as many patients as autonomous as possible and show caregivers, usually parents, as many functional exercises as we can so that they can continue to help the people who need long-term care, especially those with neurological damage.” —Natoyallah Djimingaye, known as Wilfreed, HI physical therapist

The essential role of caregivers

The medical teams at Adré Hospital work seven days a week. The hospital is overcrowded and patients are being sent back to the surrounding camps as soon as their condition allows to make room for new patients.

HI’s teams try to give as much information as possible to the caregivers, who are usually parents, and show them simple rehabilitation exercises to do with the patient once they have left the hospital.

Repairing Adré’s airstrip 

Atlas Logistique, part of HI's logistics division, has begun rehabilitating Adré's airstrip to facilitate the transport of humanitarian equipment and personnel. The work should be completed in September.

Atlas Logistique has also provided international and local humanitarian organizations with a storage warehouse for humanitarian supplies.

An invisible crisis

"Every day, hundreds of people flee the war in Sudan to take refuge in Chad, one of the poorest countries in the world and unable to cope with the arrival of so many people in distress. These are people who have lost everything, who lack everything: shelter, water, food. Many of them are injured and in need of medical care and rehabilitation to prevent permanent disabilities from setting in. Unfortunately, this crisis is set to last, and today there are very few donors willing to support humanitarian operations to help these Sudanese refugees. This is a serious humanitarian crisis, but it’s invisible. In Adré, on Chad’s border with Sudan, HI is attempting to respond to the emergency. We are appealing to donor States to support the humanitarian response to a crisis that will amplify and endure." —Florence Daunis, HI Director of International Operations

Since mid-June, between 1,500 and 2,000 people are fleeing Sudan every day to escape the fighting that broke out in April. They pass through Darfur and eventually arrive in Chad. Almost 400,000 people are now in Chad—half of them in Adré. 86% of them are women and children.

More than 2,500 wounded have already been identified. Adré district hospital, supported by Doctors Without Borders, has 200 beds and it is operating well over capacity.

The majority of patients are men, mainly with gunshot wounds, fractures and complex traumas. There are no rehabilitation or psychological support services outside of those set up by HI.

The rainy season has begun, and violent winds are battering the makeshift refugee camps. A large number of refugees have no access to drinking water and there is an urgent need for food, hygiene, protection, shelter and healthcare.

Donors

This project is supported by funding from the European Humanitarian Response Capacity (EHRC) until the end of October 2023, and from the Humanitarian Coalition (via Global Affairs Canada) until the end of December 2023.