BY AARON AINOMUGISHA. Refugees and other concerned stakeholders in,and around Nakivale refugee settlement in Isingiro district western Uganda have cried out to the government, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees-UNHCR and other partners to intervene, following reports of increasing cases of pneumonia in the refugee settlement.
168,946 refugees from 12 countries like Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo and others live in Nakivale settlement including those who relocated from Nyakabande refugee reception center in Kisoro district and settled in zones of Juru basecamp and Rubondo in Isingiro district. About 35000 nationals live around the settlement.
In an interview with Rise News Uganda Dr. Gerald Naluwairo, the public health officer at Nakivale settlement says pneumonia is common among children under the age of five and the elderly,who have low immunity. It is an acute respiratory infection that affects the lungs, presenting symptoms like fatigue and chest pain when breathing or coughing.
He has however attributed the high prevalence to the settlement’s high population and congested accommodation setup increasing the transmission rate of respiratory tract infections. Some refugees have also started escaping from the camp to stay outside whenever their situation deteriorates, which endangers them and locals around the settlement.
According to Eric Kidega – the Medical Teams International Coordinator at Rubondo Health Center III, despite registering more patients with pneumonia at the outpatient department, other issues like malnutrition, malaria and non-communicable diseases remain a challenge.
Rise News Uganda has established that, at Rubondo Health Centre III which is a government facility, the medicines that the government sends are not sufficient to cater for over 70,000 people from the catchment yet the facility’s standard catchment is 20,000 people.
Local health experts, activists and other concerned stakeholders have now challenged humanitarian organizations, the government of Uganda, and partners to prioritize refugee issues since most of them are unreported or underreported.
A fascinating discussion is definitely worth comment. I do think that you need to publish more about this subject matter, it might not be a taboo matter but typically people dont speak about such subjects. To the next! Kind regards!!