Niger diary II: Silent hospital

Mark Snelling says there is no time to lose if lives are to be saved

Mark Snelling is a member of the British Red Cross Society's Emergency Response Unit in Niger.

He has been keeping a diary for the BBC News website.

In his second entry he describes arriving and travelling in the West African country, where up to 2.5 million people are now in urgent need of food.

Friday 29 July

We've heard that the first shipment of WFP food could be arriving as early as Sunday. Distributions are in sight now, and the plan - following Eric's recent assessments - is agreed.

Based in Tahoua town, the Red Cross will set up three bases around the Tahoua region, staffed by one nurse and two local volunteers. Each of these bases in turn will supply between seven and 12 satellite centres, where the actual distributions will take place.

Aid is now arriving in Niger

They will each be staffed by a nurse and four volunteers. Dutch nutritionist Mija Ververs will start training tomorrow.

It is a model that will be followed by the Red Cross in four of the country's worst affected regions.

I sit in on a meeting at the local hospital with the Regional Public Health Director, Saidou Ekaye. He gives us an alarming statistic.

The hospital, with a capacity of some 280 beds, technically serves almost two million people. Aside from malnutrition, the most common admissions are for malaria and respiratory disease.

It had seemed quiet as we walked into the hospital grounds and there is a sinister explanation. There has been no increase in admissions since the food crisis erupted, the director says.

Even if they're sick, people won't come for treatment because they're too frightened to leave the young crops that they are trying to nurse into life. It is a deathly bind.

I think of the feel-good vibrations that we all basked in during the Live8 concert in Hyde Park. We watched the bands and listened to the music and felt we were doing something about the world's poor.

That the event raised awareness is all to the good. But this is the reality, and it is not glamorous.

Thursday 28 July

A testing start to the day, wrestling with the Bgan satellite dish that I'm going to be taking to the field. Mercifully Fred Armand, an Ivorian IT technician is on hand to help me out, technophobe that I am.

Finally, at about 1100, I set off with Mija the nutritionist, en route to Tahoua.

Locusts and a drought have meant that harvests have failed in Niger

With Niamey behind us, the road turns out to be excellent - a welcome relief.

She's got a two-day old Herald Tribune, so I catch up on the rest of the world.

The front page is still dominated by the London bombings and I am struck by a compelling irony.

Given there is no war in Niger, this is the first mission that I have ever done where, from a security standpoint, I am possibly safer in the field than back at home. A curious thought.

As we head deeper into the country, there is another conspicuous surprise. It's all green.

Aside from pockets of dusty scrub, we drive through miles and miles of what look to be healthy millet crops. Herein lies a bitter paradox.

The rainy season, which gets into full swing in August, has actually started well this year. But as Mija explains, this does nothing to fill the so-called Hunger Gap, namely the period from when last year's stocks ran out to the beginning of this year's harvest.

Crops may be growing, but they are of no use to anyone for another two months.

Furthermore, even the slightest interruption in rainfall, or worse still an early end to the season (as happened last year), could spell the failure of entire crops.

Green it may be, but it is a perilous situation. "If there's not enough rain, they simply won't make it," says Mija.

We get into Tahoua at about 1700 and find the team at the local office of the Niger Red Cross.

It's good to see Eric again, as well as Dr Robert Yiao, another Ivorian from the regional delegation, who has been conducting health assessments.

They brief Mija and hear her initial recommendations, and we go to eat.

Just as we're finishing dinner, a sudden and violent wind sweeps through the town, filling the air with sand. Minutes later, the heavens open, accompanied by ferocious thunder and lightning.

It's good that it's raining, but it raises the worrying prospect of some tough trips for the food trucks if the roads flood.

Wednesday 27 July

The operation is really beginning to move fast now.

Eric and Neil have left to set up their respective operational bases in Maradi and Tahoua.

NIGER IN FACTS AND FIGURES Landlocked country in West Africa One of poorest nations in world Population of 11.5m 60% of population live on $1 a day 50% of population under 15 82% of population depend on subsistence farming Source: UNDP

A Dutch nutritionist, Mija Ververs, arrived from the Red Cross Federation in Geneva last night along with Isabelle Sechaud, a logistics coordinator.

We have also been joined by Fred Armand, an Ivorian IT technician from the regional delegation in Dakar. Progress.

At dinner last night, it was striking how fast the hotel has filled up. It's apparently solidly booked now; aid workers, journalists, TV crews...the lot. It's a strange spectacle.

If you'd asked a week ago, I wonder how many people would have been able to place this country on a map. In a world of hunger, Niger has won the jackpot of global attention.

But what will happen when the news teams have moved on? The questions can be overwhelming.

Nevertheless, it's back to work. There's news that two Antonov-124s - the largest type - will be arriving each carrying 10 trucks from the Norwegian Red Cross.

Langdon is still working on confirmation from the WFP as to when the first shipment of food will arrive. As ever, the clock ticks.

I drive across town with Peter to check out the Niger Red Cross warehouse, where the food will be stored directly from the airport for immediate onward dispatch to the distribution bases in-country.

Gratifyingly, Peter says it is one of the best warehouses he's ever seen in Africa. We discover it was built by the Italian Red Cross during another food emergency in the 1980s.

There is a snag. Extensive roadworks along the highway have created a long deep trench running directly in front of the main gate. For a five-tonne truck, an impossible obstacle.

Another short drive and we're in the offices of the construction company doing the road. Peter outlines our problem to the French manager.

Without hesitation, he agrees to have the trench filled in for us. Problem solved - we hope.

Mark's first diary

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