{"id":444579,"date":"2011-06-20T15:08:13","date_gmt":"2011-06-20T15:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/06\/20\/alarm-bells-as-biggest-refugee-camp-in-the-world-still-growing\/"},"modified":"2011-06-20T15:08:13","modified_gmt":"2011-06-20T15:08:13","slug":"alarm-bells-as-biggest-refugee-camp-in-the-world-still-growing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/20\/alarm-bells-as-biggest-refugee-camp-in-the-world-still-growing\/","title":{"rendered":"Alarm Bells As ‘Biggest Refugee Camp in the World’ Still Growing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Paul Redfern<\/p>\n

19 June 2011<\/p>\n

\n

Nairobi \u2014 Nearly half a million Somali refugees will be living in deplorable conditions in three refugee camps in Kenya by the end of the year as the facilities give in to swelling numbers amid rising infections, experts are warning.<\/p>\n

A new report by Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) dubbed No Way In says that while the three camps are designed to accommodate 90,000 people, they now have 350,000 people. And thousands more are camped outside, unable to find shelter.<\/p>\n

MSF warns that a combination of drought, infections and lack of immunisation of the young children are posing fresh challenges to the three camps which are in a desert.<\/p>\n

The camps – Dagahaley, Hagadera and Ifo – known collectively as the “biggest refugee camp in the world” – were established 20 years ago to house up to 90,000 people escaping violence and civil war in Somalia.<\/p>\n

But with no end to the conflict in sight, there are now more than 350,000 people crowded into the camps’ perimeters, while the number of new arrivals is surging. This year, 44,000 new refugees have already been registered, and by the end of 2011 the camps are likely to be home to 450,000 people, twice the population of Geneva. MSF say that as more and more people crowd the camps and the surrounding desert, “the availability of essential services — such as water, sanitation and education — is shrinking, and living conditions are getting rapidly worse.” An extension to one of the camps, known as Ifo Extension, which has space for 40,000 refugees and could provide a temporary solution to providing shelter for new arrivals, “lies half-built and empty due to a breakdown in negotiations between the Kenyan authorities and the United Nations High Commision for Refugees.”<\/p>\n

MSF say that when most new refugees finally arrive at the camps, they are in a poor physical state.<\/p>\n

“The health system in Somalia is in a state of near-collapse, and the majority of people have been living without conventional medical care for years,” the report says. “The drought has made the health situation worse, and many people are in need of urgent medical attention. As the number of new arrivals grows, pressure on the camps’ health services is mounting.”<\/p>\n

“More refugees are on their way,” says MSF nurse Nenna Arnold. “We are already at bursting point, but the figures keep growing. This situation is a humanitarian emergency.”<\/p>\n

The needs of these new arrivals are growing so fast that MSF is rushing to bring in additional staff and resources. Last month, staff at the health posts gave 11,963 consultations. They are seeing large numbers of patients with respiratory tract infections, diarrhoea, tuberculosis, malnutrition and trauma, and an increasing number of complicated cases.<\/p>\n

A new health post was opened in March, in the middle of the area where the newcomers are settling, which is already doing an average of 110 consultations a day. MSF has taken on more than 50 extra staff since October, bringing its total number in Dagahaley camp to 458.<\/p>\n

Around 40 per cent of the children who have arriving have never received vaccinations, which — combined with their nutritional status and poor living conditions — represents a major health threat. Flash vaccination campaigns — some of them held in the desert, under the shade of a tree — are helping to forestall outbreaks of disease.<\/p>\n

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