Most Underreported Huminatarian Stories of 2005

We each get caught up in our own lives, in our work, in our church, in our families. Celebrity, politics, sports all occupy the airwaves. And regardless of where you live in the world, America seems to dominate the news. But unfortunately, a lot is going on outside our borders and these stories don't get the attention they deserve. Every year, a great organization called Doctors Without Borders releases a list of the top 10 underreported humanitarian stories of that year. Here is their list for 2005. Click on the heading for each to read more about them.

• Congolese ravaged by war and disease - It is estimated that millions of people have died needlessly since civil war broke out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 1998, some because of the violence, but the great majority from preventable diseases like malaria and measles. The past year has been called a transition period, a time when the country was meant to move from war to peace following an accord signed in 2002.
  
  However, for the majority of the people living in this vast troubled country, the transition is nothing more than a mirage. Violence continues to flare in Ituri province, North and South Kivu provinces, and in parts of Katanga province, while the rest of the country languishes in extreme deprivation, lacking food, shelter and the most basic health care ...


• Staggering Needs, Insecurity, and Dismal Response for Chechens Living in Fear - Caught in a stranglehold between Russian Federation forces and Chechen armed groups, traumatized civilians continue to bear the brunt of this conflict of attrition and find they have nowhere to go to be safe. Driven back to Chechnya out of tented camps in Ingushetia, thousands of reluctant civilians returned to their devastated homes only to find what they had fled: fear, violence, and an ever-growing feeling of isolation ...


• Haiti's Capital Wracked by Waves of Violence - Many people in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, are trapped by the widespread violence that has hit the city in waves since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was pressured into exile in February 2004. People have been shot and killed, deliberately and unintentionally, by all of the armed factions fighting in the seaside slums, or "quartiers populaires," and the violence — both politically motivated and criminal — is spreading throughout the city. MSF treated more than 2,250 people for violence-related injuries in 2005 at a trauma center set up in the capital, including nearly 1,500 gunshot victims. Half of those treated are women, children or the elderly, underscoring the toll the violence has taken on civilians ... (My friend Debra who I met through Sierra Club has made several humanitarian trips to Haiti with her church. Their story is here: Memphis to Haiti)


• No R&D for HIV/AIDS Tools Adapted to Impoverished Settings - The overall picture is well-known. More than 40 million people worldwide have HIV/AIDS, and every day, 8,000 people die of AIDS-related illnesses — 1,400 of them children. While the HIV/AIDS pandemic receives regular media coverage, almost no attention is paid to the near-total lack of research and development (R&D) into new tools specifically adapted for patients most affected by the AIDS crisis: those living in poverty in the developing world ...



• Clashes in Northeastern India Take a Heavy Toll on Civilians - Civilians in India's northeastern Assam and Manipur states continue to be affected by recurring outbreaks of political violence along religious and ethnic lines, as well as by long-lasting conflicts between the Indian government and militant groups. More than 90 people were massacred in Assam's Karbi Anglong district during the latest outburst of violence and retaliatory killings in October 2005 ...


• War is Officially Over, But Urgent Needs Go Unmet in Southern Sudan
  - After more than 20 years of civil war between the government of Sudan and southern rebels, a peace deal signed in January 2005 seemed to open the possibility of a brighter future for the Sudanese. Yet as government forces and rebels agreed to lay down their arms, fighting continued in the country's western region of Darfur. Since early 2003, the Darfur conflict has cost thousands of lives and forced millions to flee while government-backed militias have carried out a campaign of terror against civilians ... Chronic underdevelopment combined with continuing violence in Upper Nile state indicate that even if the new peace does hold, any real improvement in living conditions remains a distant hope ...


• Somalis Endure Continuing Conflict and Deprivation - Since 1991, Somalia has been a state without a functioning central government. Fourteen years of conflict has precipitated the collapse of public health structures and a total absence of health care services. In most parts of the country, clinics and hospitals have been looted or seriously damaged by armed groups, while the UN estimates that there are only 4 doctors and 28 nurses or midwives for every 100,000 people ...



• Colombians Trapped by Violence and Fear - The situation for Colombians affected by the country's 40-year-old civil conflict did not improve in 2005. For decades, government military forces, paramilitary groups, and armed guerrillas have fought against the backdrop of the narcotics trade and conflict over natural resources, terrorizing and targeting civilians in both rural and urban areas. Violence continues to be the leading cause of death in the country and more than 3 million people have fled from their homes. Colombia now has the third highest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world ...


• Insecurity Worsens Already Desperate Situation in Northern Uganda - For nearly twenty years, people in northern Uganda have suffered from brutal conflict, including attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and forced displacements by the government. Today, more than 1.6 million people — nearly 80 percent of the population in the north — have been uprooted to camps that offer false security and hardly any assistance. While the death toll from direct violence continues to climb, many people die needlessly from preventable diseases like malaria, respiratory infections and diarrhea ...


• Crisis Deepening in Ivory Coast - The war that started in the Ivory Coast in 2002 has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and forced hundreds of thousands of desperate residents to flee their homes. It has destroyed the livelihoods of many farmers, severely damaged the country's health-care system, and left many of the most vulnerable Ivorians without primary health care or sufficient food ...