MSF warns of an increase in arrivals at the Somali refugee camps in Dabaab, Kenya

Oct. 24 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Doctor Without Borders has warned this Monday of a significant increase in arrivals at the Somali refugee camps in Dabaab, Kenya, and has called for an international response to the need for vaccines against cholera or measles.

“Every week hundreds of people arrive from Somalia at the Dabaab refugee camp in Kenya,” the NGO said in a statement. More than 233,000 refugees already live in the camp, thousands of them arriving this year.

MSF warns of “high risk of disease outbreaks” due to overcrowding. For this reason, it has appealed to organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for an “urgent response” in the form of vaccination campaigns.

Somalis are fleeing drought, violence and the endless conflict between the Islamist insurgency and the authorities recognized by the international community, most of them in the south of the country, where there have been outbreaks of infectious diseases. Arrivals from Somalia to Dagahaley have doubled between August and September alone.

“Vaccination coverage is low in Somalia and there is no system to receive and diagnose new arrivals in Kenya, so diseases can spread quickly (…), particularly among children,” said the deputy director of the MSF program for Kenya, Arián Guadarrama.

“Even a few isolated cases of measles or cholera can cause a huge outbreak in crowded camps where there is hardly any drinking water, sewage or hygiene,” he added.

Last week MSF detected three cases of measles and two suspected cases of cholera in Dagahaley, one of three refugee camps in the Dabaab region.