U.N. aid agencies are struggling to meet the needs of refugees in eastern Cameroon as multitudes flee the renewed violence in neighboring Central African Republic. The population of the Gado refugee camp has exploded from just 1,000 refugees in January to 25,000 today.
Agency reports stated that ,scores of children are being attended to by medical staff at the Gado refugee camp on Cameroon’s eastern border with the C.A.R. At least a hundred children fleeing with their parents have been received by humanitarian workers this week.
22-year-old Magloire Zema, who arrived at Gado last week, says she is happy her 6-month-old son has recovered his health.
She says he was neither eating nor had access to clean drinkable water, but today the situation is better because he can drink milk and eat a bit of their traditional meals.
Health worker Gerimie Dicia says Magloire is lucky her son has recovered. He says many children who arrive at Gado die from hunger, malnutrition, or wounds inflicted on them by fighters while they are escaping from C.A.R.
He says malnutrition and hunger are becoming public health problems for children from Central African Republic arriving in the camp. He says many of them under the age of 5 end up dying.
He says when the children are brought to them at the early stages of malnourishment, they are treated for three or four days, and then are referred to their community workers for psychological and health follow up care.
Religious and ethnic unrest erupted in C.A.R. after Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority Christian country in 2013 and left the nation divided.
Three years of violence has killed thousands and led more than 300 000 to run for safety in neighboring Cameroon.
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