Bilbao-born Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, Head of Emergencies at Doctors Without Borders, warns that the humanitarian scenario is the worst in the past 15 years
Humanitarian crises are the professional context in which Bilbao-born Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa develops. He was Director General, Head of Mission and Head of the Emergency Department of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), a position he currently holds. He has just returned from Africa, once again the epicenter of a new hunger situation for tens of millions of people. Central Somalia, northeastern Nigeria, northern Mozambique, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali suffer from war and mass displacement.
– What influence do rising energy and commodity prices have on the South?
– Many things have come together with a disastrous balance. We made progress on food security until 2017, but the following year it got worse again. Then there was the price hike and the covid that paralyzed many countries. In Africa it was so strictly enforced that it paralyzed even the smallest markets. In addition, the epidemic caused the collapse of international logistics when China stopped selling. Imagine missing a screw, here it can be a nuisance, while there it is impossible to find a spare part.
– How has the crisis in Ukraine affected in this regard?
– The continent has been suffering from consecutive droughts for three years, especially in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, which have pushed up costs. Ukraine is the auction. Prices have risen sharply in food futures, a sector controlled by few companies. This circumstance comes to round out a bad situation, not that it provokes it, it just means another nail in the coffin.
– Are we witnessing one of the worst scenarios of recent times?
– It’s one of the worst-case scenarios of at least the last fifteen years. It had been a long time since such a situation occurred in Somalia or Nigeria. The inputs have become more expensive, but the point is that farmers’ families have few resources, they spend everything they get from the harvest on a daily basis and it’s just now, when there is nothing in the fields, that the prices reach 50 or 70 percent on and they can’t afford it. The food is there, but it is priceless.
– The situation is particularly worrying in the Sahel.
– The fluctuations of El Niño and La Niña have taken up to five years without rain and the displacement of population caused by hunger as the natives have used up their livestock and are out of resources. According to the World Food Programme, at least 20 regions in 12 countries are in crisis. In Nigeria alone, MSF cares for 100,000 children in outpatient therapy and another 20,000 in intensive care, with hospitalizations of at least three weeks. In this rainy season, the impact of seasonal diseases is added, in the case of cholera, malaria and acute respiratory infections. Malnourished children can get ahead with nutritional assistance, a malnourished and sick child is at very high risk and most of what we get is like that.
– Can an organization like yours deal with such a serious situation?
– There is no way for humanitarian organizations to take on this demand. It is much more challenging and involves not only bilateral aid, but also injection of subsidized food into many markets.
– The political situation also has an influence.
– There are four or five countries suffering instability from coups and radical attacks that, in the case of Niger, even prevent farmers from going to their fields to cultivate.
– And is it possible to work in countries as unstable as Mali or Burkina Faso, where it is safe to travel only by plane because of the risk of road travel?
– We negotiate with the interlocutors, but in some cases this is impossible, such as in clashes between the jihadist groups themselves. You don’t even know who to talk to.
– Afghanistan is no longer in the foreground, but also suffers from impoverishment.
– Afghanistan has a big problem, but not as acute as that of the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Their situation has a lot to do with the climate irregularity that prevents the farmers from cultivating what touches what touches. The conditions of uncertainty that keep the population committed to heroin, the crop that yields the most money and that allows you to survive the rest of the year.
– Is there no hope in the short term?
– Poppy cultivation can be legal and for medical use. Spain is one of the largest regulated producers. Why is there no negotiation and granting so that they regularly sell and reduce speculation and the illegal market? But right now, with the Afghan state bankrupt and its few funds blocked by Washington, there is very little to do.
– Attacks on medical centers and NGO workers have also become common in recent years. Have security conditions deteriorated?
– The situation is similar, what happens is that there is more information now. There are many humanitarian workers, not just from MSF, and much more activity. The incidence is increasing, but the fact is that the presence has also increased. It is also that NGOs manage more resources and are seen as an easy target.
– The outlook does not look promising.
– We continue to do what we always do, what we can, where we can and where they leave us.
– After so many setbacks, has public opinion become discouraged and stopped supporting these initiatives financially?
– No, there has been a very strong wave of solidarity with Ukraine. The donor has not been demobilized, but there are so many conflicts that require humanitarian aid that it is getting tired. Informational dynamics also play a role. You put the spotlight on one place for a fortnight and then it changes, and some places, like Yemen, never get the spotlight. There is a reduction in funds and aid and these flows are critical to its stability. Many UN appeals remain incomplete. Ukraine does, but the same is not happening with Mozambique.
– Is Ukraine now monopolizing humanitarian care?
– It’s normal because it’s close to home. At Médecins Sans Frontières, we have put a limit on the collection of donations and expenses in that country so as not to unbalance our operational focus.
Source: La Verdad
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