Dadaab, now the world's largest refugee camp, is beset by problems More than a month after the kidnapping of three aid workers in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee complex, aid efforts are being further impeded by heavy rain and the accompanying risks of waterborne diseases .
Nearly 100 additional Kenyan police have been deployed in the camps in the last month, while the UNHCR has been supporting them with vehicles, shelter and telecommunications equipment. Refugees are still receiving life-saving aid, namely food, water and health care.
The aid operation in Dadaab, now hailed as the largest refugee camp in the world, was hit by an outbreak of cholera in the camps, believed to have started among new arrivals who had most likely acquired it in Somalia or en route to Dadaab. Rains and flooding affected the trucking of water to parts of the camps, and there are fears that some refugees resorted to using unsafe water from flooded areas.
Over on the medical side, 60 cases were reported in the camps, including 10 laboratory-confirmed cases and one refugee death. To manage the outbreak, UNHCR and partners set up cholera treatment centres for severe cases. Most cases can be managed through oral rehydration solutions (ORS) that can be given at home or at the health posts. Collaborations with UNICEF and the Ministry of Health to train health workers in the community-based management of diarrhoea are also being carried out so that patients can begin treatment at home.
Aid organisations have increased the levels of chlorine, which kills cholera-causing bacteria, at water points in the camps. Hygiene practices among refugees are also being promoted, especially the use of latrines and hand washing with soap. Each refugee received 250 grams of soap with the latest food distribution, to continue for several months.
In Ethiopia’s Dollo Ado area, a nutrition survey at the Kobe and Hilaweyn camps found high levels of malnutrition among children under five. Refugees at both camps reportedly arrived from Somalia in extremely poor health, with many families losing children to malnutrition en route or after arrival in Ethiopia. Health and nutrition programmes have been set up by a range of experienced partners to address malnutrition, especially among the youngest children, but progress was slow, as the survey confirmed.
However, the number of deaths among children under five decreased dramatically compared to the very high level seen at the height of the refugee influx this summer. This reflects improved access to quality health care and nutrition services, as well as improved water and sanitation facilities. The UNHCR is leading the coordination of a nutrition response to the survey's findings.
Meanwhile, intermittent downpours in Dollo Ado continue to cause flash floods in the area. The airstrip was hit by floods in the past four days and has subsequently remained out of service.
Work, however, still continues on the fifth refugee camp in the area, Bur Amino. More than 7,600 recent arrivals from Somalia are now encamped at the transit centre, where they receive basic shelter, relief items and hot meals.