February 5, 2008, N'Djamena, Chad/Los Angeles, CA - As tens of thousands of civilians cross into Cameroon in an effort to flee the ongoing conflict in Chad's capital, International Medical Corps (IMC) is establishing mobile clinic services to address the needs of the refugee influx.

The most immediate needs are primary health care services and trauma care, including medications and supplies. Some of the refugees crossing into Cameroon did so with injuries, including bullet wounds, sustained during the fighting. International Medical Corps' mobile units in Cameroon will focus on providing emergency care in the area around Kousseri. In the short-term, those arriving in camps being set up to receive them are expected to have adequate supplies of food and water. But the crisis is quickly reverberating throughout a region already impacted by conflict in neighboring Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR).

"We are deeply concerned about the lasting impact of the fighting in N'Djamena on Chad and neighboring countries," said International Medical Corps' Regional Coordinator Ben Hemingway. "Even if a ceasefire holds, the impact of this disruption on humanitarian assistance will be far-reaching and will affect the delivery of critical services for the foreseeable future."

International Medical Corps staff in CAR, to the south of Chad, remains in place to provide services to a target population of approximately 30,000 as needed. Meantime, in Darfur, Sudan, where IMC is serving an internally displaced and conflicted-affected population of more than 500,000, the medical staff is closely monitoring the situation there as well.

International Medical Corps is also keeping a close eye on the situation in Nigeria, to the west of Chad, where several thousand people have been queuing up at the border in hopes of crossing to safety.

Chadians by the thousands began fleeing N'Djamena over the weekend as rebel forces assaulted the capital in an effort to topple President Idriss Deby. France has declared its support for Deby and pledged to intervene against the rebel militia in support of its former colony. Although rebel leaders agreed to a temporary ceasefire on Monday, new violence may erupt at any time. Estimates of those fleeing Chad into Cameroon are anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000, and many Chadians are also displaced around the capital city, without food or water.

The rebel offensive has opened a new conflict adjacent to the Darfur region, which is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis following years of civil war. Since late 2003, more than 200,000 people have fled fighting in Darfur and taken refuge across the border in the deserts of eastern Chad. International Medical Corps has been providing primary health care and nutrition services for over 60,000 Darfurians (approximately 25 percent of the total refugee population) in four camps — Kounoungo, Mile, Am Nabak and Gaga — as well as for 100,000 Chadians in the surrounding host communities. Services include curative care for the sick and injured, immunizations and other preventive care for children and pregnant women, and nutritional assistance to malnourished children and women of child-bearing age.

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International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.

Established in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses, IMC is a private, voluntary, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization. Its mission is to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in underserved communities worldwide.