After an eventful arrival at a remote hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dr. Ida Moberg faces more unexpected challenges. Living in a community under the threat of gunfire, Ida takes on a strained children's ward and an 11-year-old patient with suspected cholera.

There has been some tension in Numbi and in the nearby area recently. Various armed groups and the national army are present. This has caused some difficulties for locals and also resulted in internally displaced people. For those of us who work for Doctors Without Borders, it has meant a tightening of the curfew, which now begins at six in the evening.

All the local doctors and some of the nurses decided to stop working with us because of the security situation. There were only three international doctors in Numbi, one of which was finishing their assignment the following day. In Sweden, I’d specialized in infections, but with the current extreme lack of doctors, I now had to take care of an overloaded children’s ward where there are often two children in each bed.

South Kivu Province has suffered cholera outbreaks over the past six months. MSF has helped fight outbreaks and has treated patients at their partner hospitals and temporary cholera centers, and also through the South Kivu Emergency Response team (known as RUSK), who travel throughout the region and do targeted responses.

Read the full article about treating cholera by Ida Moberg at Doctors Without Borders.