At
six o’clock in the morning, a group gathers outside the
International Rescue Committee (IRC) medical centre in Oure
Cassoni refugee camp. Women in colourful dresses, old men in
desert-stained white tunics, and children in clothes too big
or too small huddle together in the shade.
Among them, three-year-old Mubarrak Timan waits patiently for
his turn to see the nurse. His mother explains that he has been
suffering from diarrhoea for the past four days, probably due
to parasites transmitted through drinking contaminated water.
“Diarrhoea accounts for over 30 per cent of the cases
we see,” says Ibrahim Nai, the Sudanese nurse who examines
Mubarrak after several hours’ wait. “The water they
have been getting comes straight from the rain-filled wadi.
It is muddy and unfit for drinking.”
Opened only two weeks ago, the camp has recently installed tanks
to purify 180,000 litres of water, equivalent to ten days’
supply for the current population. “We should see a significant
decrease in water-related diseases in the weeks to come,”
anticipates Ibrahim.
Water is just one of the health problems confronting the almost
200,000 refugees who have fled into Chad from the Sudanese province
of Darfur since last year.
With its 23 all-terrain trucks, the Chad Red Cross has been
playing an important role in relocating refugees from border
areas to the relative safety of the camps, and delivering aid
to the camps. But with road transport increasingly unreliable
due to rainy season flash floods, the World Food Programme (WFP)
is finding it difficult to meet the food needs of the refugee
population.
Daily nutritional values dropped to 1,920 kilocalories per person
in July, well below the 2,100 recommended by international standards.
With malnutrition on the increase, the risk of infections and
other ailments increases.
These concerns over health, safe drinking water and sanitation
are uppermost in the mind of the Chad Red Cross and the International
Federation, which has just launched a significantly expanded
appeal to support the refugee operation in Chad.
As well as continuing to deliver humanitarian supplies in partnership
with United Nations agencies as they have done since the start
of the crisis, the Federation and the Chad Red Cross will now
be taking responsibility for the establishment and management
of a camp for 20,000 refugees at Tréguine. Having launched
an initial appeal for 2.3 million Swiss francs (US$ 1.8 million)
in December 2003, the Federation is now asking for 14.58 million
Swiss francs (US$ 11.56 million).
Every day, the therapeutic feeding centre run by Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF) in Iridimi camp takes in over 40
children, who each receive three rations of high-protein food
to nurse them back to health. 25-year old Hadija Yusuf Ishak
has come to the centre with two of her four children for the
past week.
“My children Islam and Hawa spent four days in Iriba hospital,”
she recalls with a tear. “They were so thin, they could
hardly move.”
“Most cases come to our attention when they are already
advanced,” explains a nurse who works in the centre. “So
we have recently started a campaign to encourage people to seek
early treatment, which is increasing the number of patients
we receive.”
The harsh weather conditions are responsible for the remainder
of the cases treated by medical staff inside the camps. Respiratory
diseases are common in this land on the fringes of the Sahara
desert. The dazzling light of the sun provokes a high number
of eye conditions, along with the abrasive sand kicked up by
the frequent sandstorms.
As preoccupying as the current health situation of refugees
appears, humanitarian organisations realise that many more dangers
lie ahead. Refugee camps, where large numbers of vulnerable
people live in close proximity to each other, are an ideal breeding
ground for a wide variety of diseases.
“We are closely monitoring the situation to prevent any
outbreak of disease,” says Dr. Kouwonou Amey, who heads
the IRC medical team at Oure Cassoni. “Cholera, malaria,
and polio are just some of the diseases we are looking out for.”
In the Bahai area, two waves of measles vaccinations in May
and July have covered 85 per cent of the children living there,
both among refugees and local inhabitants. 4,000 children have
been vaccinated against polio. Anti-malaria and anti-cholera
kits are available in sufficient quantities, provided cases
are treated early.
The Chad Red Cross is preparing to spray each tent in Oure Cassoni
with a mosquito repellent active for up to six months, long
enough to outlast the rainy season.
“We must remain vigilant,” concludes Dr. Amey. “In
this situation, any epidemic would have terrible consequences.”
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Mubarrak
Timan and his mother wait to see the nurse. The child
has been suffering from diarrhoea, which is a constant
concern for aid agencies operating in eastern Chad (p11826)
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Chad
Red Cross volunteers help refugees off the trucks at Oure
Cassoni camp (courtesy Jiro Ose)
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Many
refugees are having to resort to drinking untreated water,
giving rise to cases of diarrhoea. Ensuring safe water
and sanitation is a priority for the International Federation
(courtesy Jiro Ose)
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Two
of Hadija Yusuf Ishak’s children were suffering
from malnutrition. Here she sits outside the therapeutic
feeding centre in Iridimi camp (p11827)
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Sandstorms
have been a constant problem in this arid border area.
Now, though it is the rains that are causing problems
for aid agencies (courtesy Jiro Ose)
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