Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has called on donor countries to urgently release funds for humanitarian response in Kenya due to the worsening conditions in overcrowded camps in the country.
According to MSF, hospital admission of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition has spiked in Dagahaley, one of the three refugee camps in the Dadaab refugee complex, eastern Kenya.
Dadaab currently hosts over 233,000 registered refugees, many of whom have been living in the camps for over three decades and more than 80,000 unregistered refugees
In 2022 alone, it is understood that MSF medical teams treated a record 12,007 patients, majority of whom were children, in its paediatric ward and inpatient therapeutic feeding centre in Dagahaley. The figure represents a 33 percent increase from the preceding year.
Refugees in Dadaab have been locked in a 30-year protracted emergency. Even as the immediate priority is to respond to the escalating needs in the camps, it is equally vital to implement durable solutions for refugees.
Several complex factors are aggravating the humanitarian situation in Dagahaley, stretching the health care capacity in camps.
The outbreak of cholera was declared in the country at the end of October 2022, severely impacting the refugee camps and communities in Garissa and Wajir counties.
Also, crippling drought and prolonged conflict continue to displace people in search of food and water in the Horn of Africa.
‘MSF, in coordination with the host community and humanitarian organisations, has stepped up our emergency support beyond comprehensive healthcare in Dagahaley camp’, the organisation said in a statement.
‘We have opened two medical outposts, built 50 latrines, put in place two water tanks and distributed plastic sheeting and floor mats for some 800 newly arrived families residing on the outskirts of the camp’.
Inadequate humanitarian response as a result of scarce funding is adding further pressure, deepening wide-scale gaps across sectors including water, sanitation and hygiene, nutrition, health, and protection.
With the forthcoming rainy season predicted by the United Nations Office for the Commissioner of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to fail, more resources and assistance are needed now than ever to address the crisis.
Photo source: MSF
