Kala refugee camp health update

The health situation at Kala refugee camp in northern Zambia, home to thousands of Congolese has improved, MSF-Holland’s acting head of mission Bob Van der Vijl told IRIN on Wednesday. “Although the mortality rate at the camp remains unacceptably high, things are improving,” he said. MSF-Holland has been working at Kala under difficult conditions to offer basic health care to refugees fleeing fighting in neighbouring Democratic of Congo (DRC). “Most of the fatalities are due to malaria. But on-site testing and doubling visits to people in the camp who are ill, but will not visit the clinic, have both helped,” he said. The huge camp, about 30 km from the town of Kawambwa was home to 2,400 refugees, but fighting in November and December for the DRC towns of Pepa and Pweto has meant the camp is now four times as big. “There were more than 600 new arrivals at Kala in January meaning there are now more than 12,000 refugees there,” humanitarian sources told IRIN. Many who arrived at the end of last year were suffering from exhaustion, having walked for up to a month to escape fighting between DRC troops and RCD rebels backed by Rwandan forces. A supplementary feeding programme for malnourished refugees, particularly children, is helping to stabilise the population. Cholera and other water-borne diseases are rare at the camp, due mainly to the provision of clean water and properly maintained pit-latrines. “We know that clean drinking water and proper sanitation are the key to preventing many diseases, so when we work at places like Kala, those are our priorities,” Van der Vijl said. Although WFP was concerned earlier in January that it would not have enough resources to continue feeding the growing number of refugees, humanitarian sources told IRIN on Wednesday that in the short term at least, food would be available. For a selection of recent photographs of life at Kala refugee camp go to: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/photogallery/zambia-drc/gallery.phtml