Chad: Major Humanitarian Crisis Looms

As refugee camps are being built in Chad, there are reports that shelter and basic facilities available in the camps are wholly inadequate to meet the needs of the incoming people.

Development Diaries reports that refugees are in urgent need of shelter, food, water, sanitation, health care and protection services, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

It is understood that in just one camp in Adré, Camp Ecole, there are 150,000 refugees.

Most of the people crossing the border into Chad are women and children who arrive in a state of total destitution, many of them with injuries, sometimes serious.

‘We are present in three refugee camps here, where approximately 2,000 refugees arrive daily’, MSF’s Emergency Coordinator in Chad, Susanna Borges, said in a statement.

‘The existing camps in this area are already at full capacity, as are the temporary transit shelters. So people are being transferred to other locations far from the city, where new camps are still being built.

‘But these camps are not ready to host all the people who have been relocated there, so they are exposed to harsh sun and rain, with insufficient food, water, and even cooking supplies. There are enormous needs, and very few resources’.

While MSF runs a 38-bed clinic within Camp Ecole, with an ambulance for patient referrals, the clinic is continuously full, averaging 400 consultations per day.

As the rainy season approaches in Chad, there are fears over the possible outbreaks of disease which could pose another health challenge for thousands of refugees.

Development Diaries calls on international donor agencies and development partners to assist in providing aid support for displaced persons in Chad to prevent an already critical crisis from worsening.

Photo source: MSF

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