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This is despite firm agreements between local and foreign health agencies to work together to prevent disease and other health needs.
International humanitarian teams in the Sanamxay District disaster area in Attapeu province reported lack of food in the camps for the affected refugees, as well as mishandling of the relief items offered. lack of hygiene.
Wan Sriprasert lost his brother and his home in the village of Ban Mai as a result of the sudden floods caused by the collapse of the dam. He and other displaced people living in temporary shelters in the remaining five camps are now facing very different threats. "We moved into this temporary home two months ago, having lived in tents for a long time. We are so much happier because we have more space and at least a real roof over our heads, "Wan told a journalist visiting Hadyao Camp.
But the houses, although a significant improvement over the tents where many survivors still live, are still clutching each other in unsanitary conditions. Everywhere outside, puddles of wastewater, piles of garbage and huge clouds of mosquitoes and flies.
Food and clean water are not enough to meet the needs of refugees. This situation, combined with unhygienic conditions, further victimizes survivors of the disaster. It's not that efforts are not going on to help them. Health is one of the priorities of the recovery process and many foreign health organizations are working with the Lao Ministry of Health and local authorities to improve health conditions and control the disease.
The UN Resident Coordinator in Laos said that a vaccination campaign against typhoid and cholera had been successfully conducted since October. The Sanamxay District Health Unit and foreign aid groups are closely monitoring influenza-like illnesses, acute respiratory infections and dengue fever. Nevertheless, epidemics have been inevitable.
Last month, the Ministry of Health acknowledged that the country's most serious dengue epidemic, the worst in decades, affected Attapeu province. Local health officials said the dengue situation was critical in Sanamxay district, where the dam disaster occurred. He called the epicenter of the epidemic. The Ministry of Health said that Laos, with a population of 6.7 million, had registered more than 6,000 confirmed cases of dengue fever and 19 deaths, and that the situation in Sanamxay was disastrous.
Viangphed Sudthi-ngoen-visa, deputy head of Sanamxay District Health Department, said his office had treated 222 dengue cases and three confirmed deaths between October and December. She added that the authorities encouraged citizens, including those in refugee camps, to eliminate the stagnant water where the mosquito Aedes aegypti, carrying the dengue fever, laid its eggs. But the effort did not slow down the rate of infection because of the large number of puddles and pools in the camps.
Malnutrition, especially among children, is another major health problem in the camps. The UN Resident Coordinator said that 50 of the 326 infants screened in October – aged six to 59 months – were suffering from acute malnutrition due to a lack of food and supplies for newborns.
The UN official warned that food stocks for residents of the seven villages affected by the floods and whose population had not been relocated were already exhausting. They will also not be able to harvest at least until next October.
This is the fourth in a series on the fallout from the dam disaster in southern Laos last year. The fifth part will be published next Monday.
The stories on this story were supported by a grant from Internews' Earth Journalism Network and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30363470
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