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Nearly 30,000 Liberian refugees living in five camps near Bo in southeastern Sierra Leone are receiving health care from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the medical charity reported on Wednesday.
To support a team of eight international volunteers and national staff, MSF has established a system of home visitors who assist the ailing and help to prevent disease outbreaks. The home visitors are Liberian refugees with a health-care background, trained and supervised by MSF.
The health-care programmes cover three districts in Southern Province and Koinadugu District in Northern Province.
"At present very few refugees are coming into Sierra Leone from the (southeastern) border crossing at Zimmi, but in the north, refugees are still coming into the country," Anne Decoster, an MSF nurse said. "During one weekend in mid-October more than 3,000 refugees entered from Kailahun. According to the refugees, there is still fighting in northern Liberia and almost the entire population of Lofa province - accounting for one-third of Liberia - has fled."
Centres meant to provide supplementary feeding for malnourished children are being set up alongside clinics near the camps. "Our clinics are located in the nearby villages to provide equal access to health care to refugees and to Sierra Leoneans. This is meant to ease possible frictions between the refugees and the host community," Catherine Ulleberg, field coordinator for MSF in Bo, said.
MSF said it was monitoring the food situation, access to water and sanitation in the camps. The refugees, it added, also complained about shelter conditions.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
