Responding to the Earthquake in Morocco

International Medical Corps Response International Medical Corps is coordinating with the Moroccan Association of Solidarity and Development (AMSED), the Moroccan Ministry of Health, Maroc Solidarité Médico-Sociale (MS2), the European Committee for Education and Agriculture (CEFA), Action for Humanity (AFH) and Cooperazione e Sviluppo (CESVI) to provide healthcare services to communities affected by the earthquake.

Our teams are working with AMSED and MS2 to support mobile medical units (MMUs) in Al-Houz and Taroudant provinces, where over the past two weeks we have procured and delivered drugs, consumables and medical equipment for two MMUs. We also held an induction workshop in Marrakech for the 17 MMU team members from AMSED and MS2, addressing topics such as safeguarding, pharmacy stock management, medical data collection and reporting, MMU layout and patient flow, medical prescription with best practices, hygiene and health promotion strategy, referral strategy and partnerships with local authorities.

The MS2 MMU began operations on October 16 in Al Haouz province, and the AMSED MMU also began operations in Taroudant province. The MMUs are providing integrated health services, including health and mental health consultations, and distributing hygiene kits, tents and solar electric kits to ensure that remote communities have access to critically needed services and supplies.

The MS2 and AMSED MMUs each consist of one or two doctors, one psychologist, one or two nurses and one midwife. The two MMUs have provided thousands of primary and mental health consultations. Clinicians have frequently diagnosed non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and pulmonary infections, and have diagnosed psychological disorders that were exacerbated by the trauma of the earthquake. Community members most severely impacted by the earthquake include children, women, pregnant women and people with disabilities. Staff also provided health and hygiene promotion sessions to patients, helping to disseminate prevention behaviors and attitudes within the community. Patients requiring additional care were referred to Taroudant Health Center.

The team conducted individual and group psychosocial activities, including group discussions based on the identification of psychological vulnerabilities. Furthermore, AMSED and MS2 conducted awareness-raising sessions around health and hygiene, covering such topics as environmental, personal, intimate and menstrual hygiene; pregnancy, breastfeeding and caring for newborns; and sexually transmitted infections. Staff focused additional awareness-raising sessions on waste management and environmental protection, highlighting the added difficulties the community is facing and alerting them to risks of disease exposure.

Concurrently, workers at building sites have benefitted from the MMUs’ issuance of masks to protect against dust and potentially toxic materials contained in the rubble, which can cause respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis. For the children of the targeted Douars, the AMSED team also visited two primary schools to provide creative workshops with the goal of bringing hope and encouragement to the children affected by the earthquake.