WHO concerned over health needs of Sudanese refugees, host communities in CAR
April 17, 2024 (BIRAO) – Since the start of Sudan’s conflict in 2023, large numbers of civilians have been forced to flee, including people who were already internally displaced and refugees from other countries who sought safety in Sudan.
Hundreds of thousands of people, aid agencies say, have fled into neighbouring countries or returned home in adverse circumstances, notably to the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and the Republic of South Sudan.
A report from the World Health Organization (WHO) expresses concerns over the heath need of Sudanese refugees and host communities in the CAR.
“We arrived in CAR completely exhausted and also financially ruined because we came on our own. I no longer had money to take care of my mother when she became ill. It was malaria,” Buruma, a 60-year Sudanese refugee, told WHO.
For almost a year, the sixty-year-old has been living with his 86-year-old mother, like more than 9,000 other refugees, in the Korsi camp in Birao, in the north-east of the Central African Republic. However, with the outbreak of armed conflict on April 15, 2023 in Sudan, he lost the other members of his family during the journey to the Central African border and since then he has had no news of them.
Like Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, which hosts nearly 30,000 refugees and returnees from Sudan, 85% of whom are women and children, is one of the countries affected by the Sudan crisis in the African region.
WHO, thus, says the massive influx of refugees into the CAR increases the risk of epidemics, endangering tens of thousands of lives and increasing pressure on an already fragile health system due to the armed conflict in the country.
The Birao hospital, the reference health structure of the Vakaga health district, and Amdafock health center, a health facility located on the border with Sudan 65 km from Birao, are directly impacted by the humanitarian crisis, because they must take charge of the flow of sick people which continues to increase.
The low reception capacity, lack of equipment and insufficient qualified health personnel to meet the health needs of refugees and returnees, added to those of the host community, aggravate the situation.
To support the Central African government in its efforts to respond to this crisis, the world health body deployed a multidisciplinary emergency team. Its role is to help strengthen health and humanitarian coordination, improve disease surveillance and ensure the provision of essential health care at the Korsi site.
According to WHO, from July 2023 to February 2024, in the Korsi camp, nearly 19,000 medical consultations were carried out thanks to WHO and other partners.
“As soon as we arrived in Korsi, my children were vaccinated against polio. My pregnant wife received free medical care and received the neonatal tetanus vaccine. I myself was vaccinated against COVID-19,” said 29-year old Abrahim.
Added the mother of two, “This attention we are given comforts us a lot.”
The dire crisis in the CAR reportedly continues to trigger massive forced displacement, increasing pressure on resources and living conditions in host communities and countries. Intense militia activity and inter-community violence hampers humanitarian access and exposes civilians to serious protection risks.
According to United Nations humanitarian agency (OCHA), CAR remains the country with the highest humanitarian needs per capita, with 50 per cent of the population having to rely on humanitarian assistance to survive, while 25 per cent is displaced either internally or in a neighbouring country.
(ST)