What Handicap International is doing at Dadaab refugee camp

Gepubliceerd op 28 July 2011
A child aged 8 is receiving care in Dadaab camp
© Stanislas Bonnet - Dadaab, refugee camp, Abdikadir Ahmed H. is a Somali child aged 8 years who received care from our teams.
A member of the national staff with a young patient
© Stanislas Bonnet
A couple in consultation
© Handicap International

Handicap International has been supporting disabled people in Dadaab camp since 2007. Because of the severe famine, living conditions are worsening and the needs are dramatically increasing. Here is an overview of our actions on the ground in Dadaab. 

Right now, nearly 11 million people are facing severe famine in East Africa. Every week, more than 10,000 refugees are arriving at Dabaab camp in northern Kenya. Dadaab is today the biggest refugee camp in the world, hosting nearly 400,000 people. Originally designed for 90,000, the current camps are already inundated. New arrivals are having to settle outside the camps, with no sanitation facilities and little shelter.

Around 8,000 of the newest arrivals are estimated to be people with disabilities, and 8,000 more are expected by the end of 2011. Living conditions are worsening and people with disabilities are struggling to access basic services. We estimate that 7,500 of the recent arrivals are in need of immediate care, mobility aids, rehabilitation and psychological support.

Handicap International has been supporting disabled people in Dadaab camp since 1997, providing rehabilitation care, distributing assistive devices (crutches, walkers, wheelchairs) and running mobile support teams. We were able to respond quickly to the current crisis.

Our actions on the ground in Dadaab

  • At the camp entrances, our teams are running vulnerability desks providing emergency aid to disabled people.

  • We are also present at camp registration points identifying people with disabilities and others in need of immediate help

In the coming weeks we are planning to increase this capacity, by:

  • Strenghtening our vulnerability desks to provide disabled people with basic services and meet their urgent rehabilitation needs.

  • Setting up shelters to protect the most vulnerable people from the sun,

  • Creating seven mobile rehabilitation units providing physiotherapy care, assistive device, advice and psychosocial support.

  • Making transport more accessible,

  • Creating community-based groups to provide basic needs items to vulnerable arrivals.
     

hier niet aankomen