Refugee Influx Causing Crisis In South Sudan

Overwhelming Refugee Influx Causing Crisis Situation In South Sudan
Médecins Sans Frontières Warns Of Dire Medical Needs In Overcrowded And
Under-Prepared Refugee Camps

Juba, 13 June 2012 – Médecins Sans Frontières warns of dire medical
consequences as tens of thousands of new refugees crossing from Sudan into
South Sudan find refugee camps full and unable to provide the basic
life-sustaining essentials. The situation in Upper Nile and Unity States is
rapidly developing into a full-blown crisis as water supplies start to run
out and relief is wholly insufficient. Medical care is not enough when
shelter, food and water are lacking for people arriving in an already
weakened state.

In Upper Nile State around 35,000 refugees crossed the border over a
three-week period, to find the existing refugee camps overcrowded and
already struggling to provide enough water for the 70,000 refugees in the
area. The new arrivals initially gathered at a temporary site but the water
ran out and, over Monday night, the 15,000 refugees remaining at this
location walked en masse the 25km to the nearest location with available
water. “We went early on Tuesday morning to provide medical assistance and
rehydration points along the route,” says Dr. Erna Rijnierse of Médecins
Sans Frontières. “It was a truly shocking sight as we witnessed some of the
weakest dying as they walked – too dehydrated for even the most urgent
medical care to save them.” The situation for these refugees could not be
more urgent and they need to be provided a place with water, shelter and
food as soon as possible.

In Unity State, the refugee camp at Yida expanded dramatically over the
past two months to around 50,000, with up to a thousand new refugees
arriving daily. “At this point what concerns us most in Yida is that half
of our consultations are water borne illness that are easily preventable
with proper hygiene, sanitation and availability of potable water,” says
André Heller Perrache, Médecins Sans Frontières head of mission in South
Sudan. “We see many patients, mainly children for whom diarrhoea can be
life-threatening, continue to come back to the hospital to be treated
several times. We are also seeing increasing malnutrition.”

Many of the new arrivals from Sudan have walked for many days or even weeks
and are in a worse health condition than refugees that crossed in the past
few months. Despite efforts of the few organisations present the conditions
and facilities facing them on arrival are completely insufficient to cope
with the recent influx, nor with the needs of the existing population of
the camps.

The start of the rainy season adds to the urgency. ‘As the rainy season
intensifies, the situation for the refugees becomes increasingly
precarious,” says Heller Perrache. “Some crucial access roads are already
becoming unusable and Médecins Sans Frontières urgently calls upon aid
organisations involved in providing the basic minimum services to catch up
with the ever increasing camp populations.”

Médecins Sans Frontières has a massive response in the refugee camps, with
more than 50 international staff and just over 300 local staff present. In
total, the organisation is providing more than 6,500 consultations per
week, including urgent medical care for the most critically ill of the new
arrivals. Médecins Sans Frontières has also engaged in prevention of
disease outbreaks by conducting measles vaccination campaigns for children
under 15. At various temporary points in Upper Nile State, Médecins Sans
Frontières is treating and distributing water but the available water will
run out soon. ‘That’s why it is so important more organisations get
involved in trying to move the refugees to more suitable locations and
provide appropriate conditions in the existing camps without delay’, adds
Rijnierse.

ENDS

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