Conditions In Refugee Camps Research Articles

Health-related quality of life in diabetic patients and controls without diabetes in refugee camps in the Gaza strip: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundPrevalence of diabetes mellitus is increasing in developed and developing countries. Diabetes is known to strongly affect the health-related quality of life (HRQOL). HRQOL is also influenced by living conditions. We analysed the effects of having diabetes on HRQOL under the living conditions in refugee camps in the Gaza strip.MethodsWe studied a sample of 197 diabetic patients who were recruited from three refugee camps in the Gaza strip and 197 age- and sex-matched controls living in the same camps. To assess HRQOL, we used the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) including four domains (physical health, psychological, social relations and environment). Domain scores were compared for cases (diabetic patients) and controls (persons without diabetes) and the impact of socio-economic factors was evaluated in both groups.ResultsAll domains were strongly reduced in diabetic patients as compared to controls, with stronger effects in physical health (36.7 vs. 75.9 points of the 0–100 score) and psychological domains (34.8 vs. 70.0) and weaker effects in social relationships (52.4 vs. 71.4) and environment domains (23.4 vs. 36.2). The impact of diabetes on HRQOL was especially severe among females and older subjects (above 50 years). Low socioeconomic status had a strong negative impact on HRQOL in the younger age group (<50 years).ConclusionHRQOL is strongly reduced in diabetic patients living in refugee camps in the Gaza strip. Women and older patients are especially affected.

Insecticide‐treated plastic tarpaulins for control of malaria vectors in refugee camps

Spraying of canvas tents with residual pyrethroid insecticide is an established method of malaria vector control in tented refugee camps. In recent years, plastic sheeting (polythene tarpaulins) has replaced canvas as the utilitarian shelter material for displaced populations in complex emergencies. Advances in technology enable polythene sheeting to be impregnated with pyrethroid during manufacture. The efficacy of such material against mosquitoes when erected as shelters under typical refugee camp conditions is unknown. Tests were undertaken with free-flying mosquitoes on entomological study platforms in an Afghan refugee camp to compare the insecticidal efficacy of plastic tarpaulin sprayed with deltamethrin on its inner surface (target dose 30 mg/m2), tarpaulin impregnated with deltamethrin (initially > or = 30 mg/m2) during manufacture, and a tent made from the factory impregnated tarpaulin material. Preliminary tests done in the laboratory with Anopheles stephensi Liston (Diptera: Culicidae) showed that 1-min exposure to factory-impregnated tarpaulins would give 100% mortality even after outdoor weathering in a temperate climate for 12 weeks. Outdoor platform tests with the erected materials (baited with human subjects) produced mosquito mortality rates between 86-100% for sprayed or factory-impregnated tarpaulins and tents (average approximately 40 anophelines and approximately 200 culicines/per platform/night), whereas control mortality (with untreated tarpaulin) was no more than 5%. Fewer than 20% of mosquitoes blood-fed on human subjects under either insecticide-treated or non-treated shelters. The tarpaulin shelter was a poor barrier to host-seeking mosquitoes and treatment with insecticide did not reduce the proportion blood-feeding. Even so, the deployment of insecticide-impregnated tarpaulins in refugee camps, if used by the majority of refugees, has the potential to control malaria by killing high proportions of mosquitoes and so reducing the average life expectancy of vectors (greatly reducing vectorial capacity), rather than by directly protecting refugees from mosquito bites. Mass coverage with deltamethrin-sprayed or impregnated tarpaulins or tents has strong potential for preventing malaria in displaced populations affected by conflict.

A prospective study of psychological distress related to refugee camp experience.

Previous reports have suggested a direct relationship between refugee camp experience and levels of psychological distress among refugees. Specifically, it has been postulated that refugee camps with harsh conditions and low levels of social support foster high levels of psychological distress. The present study was designed to assess the relationship between camp conditions and social support within a refugee camp and refugees' levels of psychological distress. Unlike previous reports, which were based on retrospective data, the present study evaluated psychological distress among a group of Vietnamese refugees both prior to departure from Vietnam and during their refugee camp experience. A group of 101 Vietnamese Amerasians was assessed at a transit centre in Vietnam and subsequently at a refugee camp in the Philippines. Assessment instruments were the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 and a Camp Comparison Questionnaire. There were significant decreases in symptom levels of anxiety and depression between the transit centre in Vietnam and the refugee camp in the Philippines. However, these changes were not related to changes in refugee camp conditions or social support within the camp. Contrary to previous reports, levels of psychological distress among this group of Vietnamese refugees were not related to either refugee camp conditions or levels of social support within the camp.

Protein-energy interactions in the management of severemalnutrition

The three syndromes of childhood malnutrition are contrasted with respect to protein. It is concluded that stunting and wasting are the outcomes of protein deficiency, and that kwashiorkor is not due to protein deficiency, rather it is related to unopposed oxidant stress. Formula for the energy and protein requirements are derived and contour plots of the amounts needed to sustain high rates of weight gain at different body compositions generated. It is suggested that all nutrients be expressed with energy as the denominator. No more than 12.5% of protein energy is required to sustain maximum likely rates of weight gain. Using this approach to design a diet, high rates of weight gain are achieved under field conditions in refugee camps.

Exodus and the Struggle for Deliverance: Guatemalan Refugees in Mexico

The plight of refugees, for example, the Vietnamese, the Sudanese and the Nicaraguans, has received much attention in recent years. Mostly one reads of communal degeneration and squalid living conditions in refugee camps and a seemingly universal desire of refugees to emigrate to the United States, Canada and Europe, in search of a better standard of living. One refugee group that has remained virtually unnoticed, however, is the Guatemalan Indians in southern Mexico. While in exile they have nurtured and developed their communities, in the hope of returning someday to rebuild the devastated villages they left behind.

The Lao in Sydney

The Lao community of Sydney is small and close-knit, and concentrated in the outer southwest of the city. Lao refugees started to come to Australia following the takeover by the communist Pathet Lao in 1975, an event that caused some 10 per cent of the population to flee the country. The majority of the refugees fled across the Mekong River into Thailand, where they suffered difficult conditions in refugee camps, sometimes for years, before being resettled in Australia. Lao Australians have managed to rebuild a strong sense of community in western Sydney, and have succeeded in establishing two major Theravada Buddhist temples that are foci of community life.