Malnutrition and Cholera hit Refugee Camp in Kenya | Zambia - Villagers displaced by investor face potential Cholera epidemic in Chirundu

[Campbell, Dan]

IRC: Double Whammy, Malnutrition and Cholera hit Refugee Camp in Kenya

16 Dec 2009

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/220270/12609495226.htm

Nairobi. Dec. 16, 2009 - Malnutrition rates are soaring and cholera is spreading at a camp in northwestern Kenya that has recently experienced significant influxes of refugees and steep funding cuts, says the aid group the International Rescue Committee.

An IRC survey conducted last month at Kakuma camp found that 17% of children under the age of five, or around 1,800 of 10,460 children, are malnourished. That's a 6% jump from last year.

"Malnutrition among young children at Kakuma is now above the World Health Organization's 'critical' threshold of 15% and newly arrived refugee children have been hit the hardest," says Dr. Vincent Kahi, the IRC's health coordinator in Kenya.

Newly-arrived refugees are the most vulnerable, as many are already in poor health and all rely 100% on aid agencies for food rations. Many families end up bartering some of their basic ration for other essentials - such as firewood - reducing the amount of food that they ultimately provide to their young children.

Dr. Kahi says the shortage of nutritious food has also led to unacceptably high levels of anemia in young children.

"The IRC was alarmed to find that more than 70% of children surveyed are anemic, which can cause general weakness, shortness of breath and in severe cases, cardiac problems," says Dr. Kahi. "It's urgent that health care providers in the camp strengthen specific interventions, such as increasing the use of micronutrient powder."

Fluctuations in population size and funding at Kakuma are compounding health problems. Thousands of former predominantly Sudanese inhabitants returned home following Sudan's peace accord of 2005 and resources were reduced as a result. However, a recent influx of refugees from war-torn Somali has boosted the camp's residents to more than 60,000, creating an urgent need for more funding and assistance.

Currently, new Somali arrivals receive an average of just 12 liters of water per person per day and there are not enough latrines in areas of the camp where they have settled. This has contributed to a serious outbreak of cholera that has already claimed three lives and left another 210 gravely ill.

"The cholera spread into the camp from nearby communities outside who are facing drought and water shortages," says Dr Kahi. "It's obviously much more difficult to maintain sanitary conditions if you don't have enough water."

The IRC has launched emergency water, sanitation and medical programs in response to the cholera outbreak and is scaling up its feeding programs to tackle the malnutrition.

"What's also urgently needed is a reverse in the recent funding cuts to meet the needs of the surging population at Kakuma and its growing health problems," says Kellie Leeson, IRC country director in Kenya. "Hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees have been forced from their villages by conflict or natural disaster and are arriving in Kenya with nothing. They desperately need support and basic essentials, including water, food and health care."

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December 15, 2009

Zambia - Villagers displaced by investor face potential Cholera epidemic in Chirundu

http://www.lusakatimes.com/?p=22207

One Cholera case has been recorded at Mtendere Mission Hospital in Chirundu Township of Siavonga District in Southern Province.
Four more patients with serious diarrhoea have also been recorded from the site were the more than 100 villagers who were displaced last week have settled.

Siavonga District Director of Health, Joseph Kabungo, confirmed the outbreak of the epidemic in an interview with Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) in Siavonga this morning.

Dr Kabungo described the area where the villagers have settled as a refugee camp and not fit for human habitation, adding that it is totally unacceptable for people to use the bush as toilets.
Dr Kabungo disclosed that the cholera patient, who is said to have travelled from Mazabuka to Chirundu township, is admitted to the mission hospital were she is undergoing treatment in isolation. She had travelled to visit her relatives who were displaced in Chirundu last week by a named investor.

More than 100 families have been left homeless in Nabakuyu village after an investor swung into action last week and demolished houses following a Lusaka High Court order that was passed in the investor’s favour.

However, the Office of the Vice President quickly came to the aid of the affected villagers and supplied them with tents and food stuffs.

But Dr Kabungo described the area where the villagers have since settled as a potential site for a huge epidemic.

Dr Kabungo observed that more cholera cases are expected because the area lacks basic needs such as toilets and safe drinking water to cater for the villagers.

“When you look at this area you cannot be so sure because it is a potential site for a huge epidemic as last season we had a disaster and if nothing is done we are going to have a huge disaster,” he noted.

He described the area where the villagers have settled as a refugee camp and not fit for human habitation, adding that it is totally unacceptable for people to use the bush as toilets.

“As a department we are already constrained with the resources and, therefore, we cannot afford to set up a cholera camp which will really cater for a huge huge population if we have serious outbreak there,” he said.

He said the break out of the disease in the area would have been avoided had the investor applied human conditions.

Dr Kabungo, however, assured that as a department they have put in place cholera control measures such as distribution of chlorine and giving general health education on common diarrhea diseases relating to onset of rain season.



Dan Campbell, Web Manager
Environmental Health at USAID
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