ICRC News 28 / 23.07.97
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REPUBLIC OF CONGO: DAILY SUPPLIES FERRIED ACROSS RIVER CONGO: Every day, six ICRC delegates cross the Congo on barges loaded with food and medical supplies from Kinshasa for people in Brazzaville.
ALBANIA: ICRC AND ALBANIAN RED CROSS RESUME OPERATIONS:The ICRC and the Albanian Red Cross have now resumed activities after temporarily suspending their aid programme because of the heightened tension surrounding the elections in Albania.
HEALTH: ICRC AND WHO DRAW ATTENTION TO TB IN PRISONS:The ICRC and the World Health Organization (WHO) have joined forces to focus world attention on the serious problem of tuberculosis in prisons.
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REPUBLIC OF CONGO DAILY SUPPLIES FERRIED ACROSS RIVER CONGO
Every day, six ICRC delegates cross the Congo on barges loaded with food and medical supplies from Kinshasa for people in Brazzaville.
Congolese Red Cross staff accompany the delegates on their rounds. To the north of the city the number of displaced persons has been estimated at 60,000. There are also 2,000 Rwandan refugees, including about 100 unaccompanied children, in the Bilolo camp 30 km north of the capital, and some 25,000 displaced people in more than 80 locations to the south. In addition, the ICRC is bringing aid to the 10,000 displaced who have taken refuge on islands between the two cities.
Supplying all these people with drinking water and providing support for medical facilities are also top priorities. Latrines are being installed to prevent disease, and experts are repairing water reservoirs damaged in the fighting.
Further information: Roland Sidler, ICRC Kinshasa, tel. ++243 12 48 402
ALBANIA ICRC AND ALBANIAN RED CROSS RESUME OPERATIONS
The ICRC and the Albanian Red Cross have now resumed activities after temporarily suspending their aid programme because of the heightened tension surrounding the elections in Albania. The joint team has now succeeded in reaching people in need, but the security situation remains highly volatile and banditry is still rife in some areas.
Delegates have travelled to towns in the centre and north of the country, delivering over 25,000 family parcels since they resumed their distributions of food and other basic items for destitute families. More than 58,000 parcels have been handed out by the ICRC and the Albanian Red Cross since the programme began earlier this year.
Meanwhile, medical delegates are continuing to provide ad-hoc medical and surgical supplies to hospitals. In the south of the country stocks are reported to be running particularly low, but the medical teams have not been able to travel to the region because of hazardous security conditions. The Albanian Red Cross and the ICRC are now looking at alternative ways of reaching these institutions.
Further information: France Hurtubise, ICRC Tirana, tel. ++355 42 30 457
HEALTH ICRC AND WHO DRAW ATTENTION TO TB IN PRISONS
The ICRC and the World Health Organization (WHO) have joined forces to focus world attention on the serious problem of tuberculosis in prisons.
The two organizations recently convened a meeting in Azerbaijan, which was attended by TB experts from Azerbaijan, Russia and Georgia and representatives of other agencies concerned. Following the meeting, a declaration was issued in which the ICRC and WHO called upon governments around the world to take steps to improve health care for prisoners and provide adequate treatment for those suffering from the disease.
The Baku Declaration underlined the scale of the problem, warning that TB had become a major health hazard for prisoners. The threat was compounded by the spread of HIV in prisons, which increases the risk of death from TB, and by the development of drug-resistant, often incurable forms of the disease.
The Declaration pointed out that the problem was not confined to prisons. "Tuberculosis in prisons easily spreads into the community from infectious prisoners and infectious prison staff (...). If there is no response to our call for action, incurable tuberculosis will increase deaths among prisoners and their families, and prison staff and the community."
Last year, in accordance with its mandate, the ICRC sent teams into some 2,000 places of detention in over 60 countries. Such teams include medical delegates, who assess the health of prisoners, access to medical care and sanitation conditions and make the necessary recommendations to the detaining authorities.
Further information: Amanda Williamson, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2678
During the week-end of 26 - 27 July 1997, for all information please call the press officer on duty, Rubin Ortega, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 01