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STORY: CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC / PEDIATRIC HOSPITAL “ALEXIS”
TRT: 4.27
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SANGO /NATS
DATELINE: 20-27 MAY 2014, BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC) ***PLEASE NOTE*** this story was filmed in May – here is an update on Alexis from the NGO Emergency:
Alexis was discharged from the Bangui Hospital two months ago. He returned two weeks ago for a check up and he is healing well and can now smile, eat and talk. He’s even gained a little weight. In two months, Emergency will have a plastic surgeon visiting CAR. They hope to give Alexis reconstructive surgery.
1. Close up, a shoe
2. Close up, minaret
3. Wide shot, destruction
4. Various shots, boy building a shelter
5. Pan right, makeshift camp for displaced at the airport
6. Wide shot, hospital sign
7. Wide shot, mother fanning a boy in bed
8. Close up, boy and fan
9. SOUNDBITE (Sango), Grace Subin, Alexi’s mother:
“They came into our shelter and my husband took Alexis and fled. I took our other child and ran. They chased me but when they got close they realized that I was a woman and they changed direction to go after my husband. They got close and shot him in the arm. The bullet also hit Alexis' jaw. My husband had a broken arm and he was exhausted. They caught him and tied him to a tree.”
10. Close up, boy with bandages drinking from cup
11. Tilt down, entrance to surgical unit
12. Various shots, hospitalized injured children
13. Various shots, Rainone at work
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Rainone, Surgeon, Emergency Italian NGO:
“One has to think about all the side-effects of war. It’s not only war injuries but hygiene gets worse, scholarisation gets worse. I mean, schools have been closed for a year. Everything, so. We have more cases of typhoid for example because people live in these camps in extremely poor hygiene conditions.
15. Various shots, new X-ray machine and Unicef staff
16. Various shots, hospitalized children
17. SOUNDBITE (Sango), Grace Subin, Alexi’s mother:
“For my little boy, there's definitely been a change. I brought him here in a critical condition, he couldn’t even eat, but now after the treatment he's starting to eat again and is much better.”
18. Various shots, mothers with babies
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Rainone, Surgeon, Emergency NGO:
“Burns become worse. We got plenty of children who broke their legs trying to escape, so this is not officially a war injury but it’s caused by war. And also, whatever you can think of, it got worse and more. Whichever pathology you can imagine, we got more patients and worse patients.”
20. Close up, crying baby
21. Med shot, mother and malnourished baby
22. Close up, malnourished baby
Since December 2012, civil war in the Central African Republic has left thousands dead.
Only a few parts of the country have been secured by international troops and almost a million people have been displaced.
The pediatric hospital in Bangui is the only one of its kind in the country.
It is the largest in-patient nutrition treatment centre and two additional tents accommodate the overflow of malnourished children.
The number for treating children for acute malnutrition has tripled in the last year.
Alexis is just one of 2.3 million children affected by the conflict. When Seleka rebels attacked the village Bouara where his family lived, all the villagers were forced to hide in the bush.
SOUNDBITE (Sango), Grace Subin, Alexi’s mother:
“They came into our shelter and my husband took Alexis and fled. I took our other child and ran. They chased me but when they got close they realized that I was a woman and they changed direction to go after my husband. They got close and shot him in the arm. The bullet also hit Alexis' jaw. My husband had a broken arm and he was exhausted. They caught him and tied him to a tree.”
Alexis was left for dead after his father was shot several times and Alexi lost consciousness. His mother later found him lying on the body of his dead father.
This is just one story of war.
SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Rainone, Surgeon, Emergency NGO:
“One has to think about all the side-effects of war. It’s not only war injuries but hygiene gets worse, scholarisation gets worse. I mean, schools have been closed for a year. Everything, so, we have more cases of typhoid for example because people live in these camps in extremely poor hygiene conditions.”
UNICEF is supporting the Bangui Pediatric Hospital with medication, nutrition and renovations to their surgical theatre as well as supplying a new generator, an X-ray machine and constructing a new outpatient unit.
Efforts by international partners like the Italian NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) called ‘Emergency’ working here help the children to recover.
SOUNDBITE (Sango), Grace Subin, Alexi’s mother:
“For my little boy, there's definitely been a change. I brought him here in a critical condition, he couldn’t even eat, but now after the treatment he's starting to eat again and is much better.”
Ongoing violence has prevented people from going back to their homes and doctors are seeing a steady rise in numbers of patients as well as severity of their injuries.
SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Rainone, Emergency Surgeon ,Emergency NGO:
“Burns become worse. We got plenty of children who broke their legs trying to escape, so this is not officially a war injury but it’s caused by war. And also, whatever you can think of, it got worse and more. Whichever pathology you can imagine, we got more patients and worse patients.”
Humanitarian partners working on nutrition in Central African Republic estimate that tens of thousands of children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year in the country – threatening children’s lives and their future health.
