Doctors warn of a looming cholera and measles crisis, call for vaccination
An aerial view of the Ifo Two Daadab refugee camp in 2016
Kenyan authorities and the United Nations Refugee Agency have been asked to urgently start a vaccination campaign in the Dadaab refugee camp to curb looming cholera and measles outbreaks after several cases of the diseases were recorded.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) — Doctors Without Borders — also urged the authorities to increase humanitarian support due to an influx of refugees fleeing Somalia into northern Kenya due to drought. The Horn of Africa is grappling with the worst drought in decades as a result of six consecutive seasons without any rainfall.
“With hundreds of people from Somalia arriving each week in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee complex, the living conditions in the camps hosting over 233,000 refugees and thousands of new arrivals since January are worsening,” said Mr Adrian Guadarrama, MSF's deputy programme manager for Kenya.
He warned that, with low vaccination coverage in Somalia and no system in place to receive and screen the newly arrived people in the country, infectious diseases can spread rapidly, putting people living in and around the camps, particularly children, at heightened risk of getting ill.
“Even a few isolated cases of measles and cholera can cause a full-blown outbreak in overcrowded camp settings, where clean drinking water is scarce and sanitation and hygiene are poor,” he added.
Large-scale outbreaks
Mr Guadarrama said that last week MSF recorded three measles cases and two suspected cases of cholera in Dagahaley, one of the three refugee camps that make up the Dadaab refugee complex.
The official is of the view that targeted measles and mass cholera vaccination campaigns in the Dadaab camps and the surrounding communities are required to prevent large-scale outbreaks and save lives.
“According to data collected by our outreach teams, the number of arrivals from Somalia to Dagahaley alone has doubled from August to September, reaching over 800 people. This number is estimated to keep increasing steadily in the coming weeks and months,” MSF explained, pointing out that many of the new arrivals need shelter, food, safe drinking water, and latrines.
