Health refugee camps

1. FACULTY OF MEDICINE
PUBLIC HEALTH &
COMMUNITY MEDICINE
DEPARTMENT
MANSOURA UNIVERSITY

2. Refugee camp health

3. Contents of topic
 Definition of refugee health
 Challenges that meet health of refugee
 Mortality.
 Cause specific mortality.
 Other causes of morbidity.
 Principles & objectives of refugee health and
nutrition intervention.

4.  Prevention of excess mortality & morbidity among
refugees
1. Multi sectorial &preventive approach .
2. Needs of refugee children .
3. Adequate health care & nutrtion .

5. Refugee health
 Refugee health is the field of study on the health effects experienced by
people who have moved to another area of the world, either by choice
or as a result of unsafe circumstances such as war.
 The health of these displaced populations is mainly affected by
infectious disease, mental health, and chronic diseases that are
common in the country in which these displaced persons eventually
settle.

6.  This is largely due to factors such as the migrant's geographic origin,
conditions of refugee camps where the migrant lived, and personal,
physical, and psychological conditions of the migrant, either pre-
existing or acquired while traveling from their homeland to a camp
or eventually to their new home.

7. THE CHALLENGES
Mortality
1. Any population displacement introduces risks, but a mass influx of
refugees always creates the immediate danger of major loss of life.
2. The period of greatest risk for refugees is during the first days and
weeks of a new influx. There is frequently high mortality in the
emergency phase as compared to the stable refugee situations and
reference populations. The only way to prevent this high mortality is to
ensure appropriate preparedness and response in all vital sectors.
of death

8. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Numberofdeathper1000migrants
Year of event
Mortality rate per 1000 migrants
Western mediterranean route Eastern mediterranean route
Eastern border route Central mediterranean route
Western Balkan route Average across all routes

9. THE CHALLENGES
Cause-specific mortality.
 The major causes of morbidity and
mortality among refugees are
measles, diarrhea diseases, acute
respiratory infections, malaria and
malnutrition. These diseases
consistently account for between
60 per cent and 80 per cent of all
reported causes

10. THE CHALLENGES
Malnutrition
 The various forms of Protein-Energy-
Malnutrition (PEM) remain the most
common problems, All these are
preventable by timely provision of food
of adequate quality and quantity to
meet the daily minimum
requirements.

11. Other causes of
morbidity
1. Tuberculosis,
vector-borne diseases,
sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs)
including HIV/AIDS,
pregnancy and
childbirth
complications, and
childhood vaccine-
preventable disease
(aside from measles)
are examples of
potentially serious
and fatal illnesses
commonly seen in
displaced populations,
Malaria
25%
ARI
9%
Malnutritio
n
23%
Other
22%
Measles
10%
Diarrhea
11%

12. THE CHALLENGES
2. The emotional stress of displacement and the toll that this takes can
have a great impact on physical as well as mental health .

13. PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES OF REFUGEE HEALTH AND NUTRITION
INTERVENTIONS
To prevent excess mortality and morbidity.
The main strategies to achieve the objective:-
 Adopt a multi-sectorial and preventive health approach.
 Involve refugees in planning and implementation.
 Meet specific needs of refugee children.
 Meet specific needs of refugee women.
 Institute an appropriate health and nutrition information system.

14. A. Multi-sectorial and preventive approach
address the common causes of morbidity which kill in
refugee emergencies. There are
usually a few simple contributing and causal factors:-
 Overcrowded living conditions which facilitate increased transmission
of infectious diseases
 Poor nutritional status due to lack of adequate food before, during and
after displacement
 Inadequate quantities and quality of water to sustain health and allow
 personal hygiene Poor environmental sanitation
 Inadequate shelter.

15. immunization against measles, control of diarrheal diseases, control and
prevention of acute respiratory infection, and management and control of malaria

16. A. Multi-sectorial and preventive approach
The following indicative parameters and
values are important among those used for
planning purposes.
 Water - Minimum survival 7
liters/person/day
 Target 15-20 liters/person/day
 Food - Daily caloric requirements 2100
Kcals/person/day
 Sanitation - Excreta disposal 1 Latrine/20
persons
 Shelter - Minimum shelter area 3.5
sqm/person
 Minimum site area 30 sqm/person

17. Refugee children
Children under five years of age
usually constitute 15 per cent to 20
per cent of a refugee population and
are the group at greatest risk.
Refugee children are particularly at risk from:-
 malnutrition
 diarrheal diseases
 infectious diseases, especially measles.

18. Priority must be given to the provision of the following services:-
 immunization
 feeding programmers for malnourished children
 basic curative care
 oral rehydration therapy
 Vitamin A prophylaxis
 family health services

19. Health and nutrition information
 Mortality and malnutrition rates are the most specific indicators of the
health status of refugee populations,. Segregation of data by gender as well
as age is essential.
 During the emergency phase of a relief operation, death rates should be
expressed as deaths/10,000/day to allow detection of sudden changes.


20. In a refugee emergency, reduction of the two key indicators to:-
(1) a crude mortality rate of less than 1/10,000/day.
(2) a malnutrition rate of less than 5 per cent below 80 per cent of weight
for height would suggest that the situation has been brought under
control.

21. Done By
Maged Hemaid Mohamed Salem