Stories of Survival: Musa from Somalia

 “I started feeling discomfort when swallowing food earlier in 2018 and it gradually got worse with time. Got to a point where whenever I ate, it would just take a few minutes before it all comes back out. It’s at that time that I went to the emergency room of MSF here in Dagahaley and was referred to IFO for a barium swallow test.” In September 2018, Musa was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus he's now a part of the MSF Palliative care program in Dadaab.. 

"I really appreciate the follow ups and medications offered by MSF, they are really helping and the pain gets worse when I run out. I wish that further investigations could be carried out to see if I can get better care."  MSF sends a team daily to check on the palliative care patients in the program. The team does among other things: dressing any wounds, changing the intravenous (IV) fluids that manage their pain and provide supplements, while also giving any advice and medication to the patients.

Most of the patients under this program have chronic diseases or conditions that do not have a cure, or the treatments they need are not available in the camps or sometimes may be too costly to treat outside the camp. The MSF staff therefore just help ease their pain.

Bare came into the camp in 1992 and settled in Dagahaley. “All my six children were born in this camp, but one died in the year 1995. One of them is married and has children.” “We heard rumours that there are plans to close the camp. We feel so hopeless because we have this patient who needs close care and we don’t know how possible that will be if we are forced back to Somalia,’ says his wife.