** SHORT MENU....
SIERRA LEONE: SURGICAL TEAM AT WORK IN Kenema: Since it returned to Kenema in eastern Sierra Leone last July the ICRC has been helping the government hospital there to meet medical needs in the area.
WEST TIMOR: RED CROSS IMPROVES CAMP CONDITIONS: The ICRC and the Indonesian Red Cross Society are operating 12 health-care posts in the camps for displaced people in the Atambua area near the border with East Timor.
WEST TIMOR: SANITATION BOOSTS HEALTH IN CAMPS: "The sanitation here is not great," says Dr Ilham Chaidin as he stands outside the tent serving as the Red Cross health-care post in the Haliulun camp for displaced people near Atambua.
EAST TIMOR: SEED DISTRIBUTED IN TIME FOR PLANTING SEASON: Between 11 and 13 November, the ICRC distributed 44 tonnes of seed to 11,000 families in the easternmost district of Lautem.
** STORIES IN FULL...
SIERRA LEONE SURGICAL TEAM AT WORK IN Kenema
Since it returned to Kenema in eastern Sierra Leone last July the ICRC has been helping the government hospital there to meet medical needs in the area. A team consisting of a surgeon, an anaesthetist and two specialized nurses are treating mainly people maimed during the fighting in the country in 1998. About 130 operations involving reconstructive and/or corrective surgery have been performed so far, and an average of 15 surgical operations are now taking place every week.
Local surgeons will be receiving training, as needed, in war surgery techniques. Major supplies of medicines and various types of medical equipment have been delivered to the hospital, and the plan is to build a wing with a 40-bed capacity, an operating theatre, and outpatient consultation and physiotherapy facilities.
Medical assistance to the country's hospitals and health centres is a significant component of the ICRC's activities in Sierra Leone. The ICRC plays a key role in the primary health care system, providing support for four health centres in some of the most poverty-stricken sections of Freetown. A delegate is supervising assistance to the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in the capital, Sierra Leone having one of the highest child mortality rates in the world. Further information: Juan Martinez, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 22 81
WEST TIMOR RED CROSS IMPROVES CAMP CONDITIONS
The ICRC and the Indonesian Red Cross Society are operating 12 health-care posts in the camps for displaced people in the Atambua area near the border with East Timor. The posts, staffed by Indonesian Red Cross nurses, are open around the clock and each treats some 100 patients a day.
Four doctors work in shifts to cover the 12 posts. Dr Ilham Chaidin of the Indonesian Red Cross says that the most prevalent diseases are respiratory infections, malaria and bloody diarrhoea. He adds that many of those treated for diarrhoea are under five years of age. The posts will therefore be augmented by rehydration clinics in the coming days. These clinics will provide clean drinking water and oral rehydration solution, and their staff will teach preventive hygiene methods and sound community-health practices. They will also travel throughout the camps encouraging people to adopt practices that limit the spread of disease.
"The local health facilities were completely overwhelmed by the influx of displaced people", says Mr Iyang Sukandar, Under-Secretary-General of the Indonesian Red Cross, who has been working in Atambua since early September. "We are convinced that the health-care posts have helped keep down the level of disease."
Dr Jens Amlie, ICRC medical coordinator for Indonesia, confirms that refugee camps can be very unhealthy places to live. "We know from our experience elsewhere in the world that the conditions in such camps can lead to a high incidence of potentially fatal diseases", he says. "Overcrowding prompts the spread of upper respiratory infections such as pneumonia; stagnant water and makeshift shelters increase the chances of malaria; and improper sanitation and insufficient drinking water causes a high incidence of diarrhoea. To make matters worse, the meagre diet and the stress of being forced from their homes and having to live in overcrowded camps have the effect of weakening people's immune systems and making them more disease-prone." Dr Amlie notes that medical care is a mere palliative and that preventive measures are needed to reduce the level of illness. The ICRC and the Indonesian Red Cross are therefore building additional latrines in the camps and providing chlorine tablets to purify water for drinking. The Red Cross will also be trucking additional water into the camps and is looking into the possibility of drilling boreholes to increase the supply.
Dr Amlie emphasizes that physical and psychological well-being are closely related. The stress being endured by many of the people in the camps is reaching critical levels. "They have been through a lot," he says. "And their future remains uncertain. However, the mere presence of medical services is comforting to the population of the camps and that alone helps reduce the level of stress."
Further information: Bernard Barrett or Sri R. Wahyu Endah, ICRC Jakarta, tel. ++ 62 21 720 72 52
WEST TIMOR SANITATION BOOSTS HEALTH IN CAMPS
"The sanitation here is not great," says Dr Ilham Chaidin as he stands outside the tent serving as the Red Cross health-care post in the Haliulun camp for displaced people near Atambua. The camp houses over 1,000 people, their homes constructed of leaves and bamboo for the walls, while the roofs consist of orange or blue plastic sheeting. "But there is little point", Dr Chaidin goes on, "in lecturing people about washing their hands and keeping their children clean when in any case there is not enough water to go around."
Here and there behind the makeshift shelters are small cubicles: three walls of plastic sheeting, cardboard or leaves. These are the latrines dug by the camp residents. Inside there is usually no more than a hole in the ground, one and two metres deep. Up to 10 families use a single latrine.
Not far from Dr Chaidin's tent is a large blue portable tank: the camp's water supply. It can hold 4,000 litres, but now the lid is propped against the wall of a nearby house, with a bucket abandoned on the ground nearby. Both items make clear that there will be no water until the next daily visit by the tanker truck. ICRC engineers calculate the camp's daily water requirement at about 24,000 litres.
"After food and shelter, drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities are the most important problems," says Mr Iyang Sukandar of the Indonesian Red Cross, adding that there are some 60 camps in the area, many of them in worse condition than Haliulun.
"Sanitation facilities must be properly constructed to prevent the spread of disease," explains Muziel Alzwar, the engineer in charge of the project. "In some of the camps the latrines are too close to wells; in most cases the latrines are not deep enough." At Haliulun camp the Red Cross recruited volunteers from among the younger men to dig the latrines. "It's a boost for their self-esteem to be able to do something like this, rather than just sit around the camp all day."
Further information: Bernard Barrett or Sri R. Wahyu Endah, ICRC Jakarta, tel. ++ 62 21 720 72 52
EAST TIMOR SEED DISTRIBUTED IN TIME FOR PLANTING SEASON
Between 11 and 13 November, the ICRC distributed 44 tonnes of seed to 11,000 families in the easternmost district of Lautem. The supplies were delivered in 20-kg parcels to groups of five families, from the main town of Los Palos to the most remote villages in the area. The distribution was carried out in time for the sowing season and should ensure the production of sufficient food and seed for the East Timorese until the next planting season.
In addition, ICRC delegates are supplying maize grain for immediate consumption. The purpose of "seed protection" distributions is to feed the farmers and thus ensure that the seeds are used for planting and not eaten; so to clearly differentiate the food grain from the seed for planting, the latter has been treated with natural purple colouring.
"The seed distribution is designed to ensure food security as quickly as possible, using the area's agricultural production potential", said ICRC agronomist Peter Schimann. With the beginning of the rainy season, seed is becoming the most urgent item the population needs to regain self-sufficiency. "In one of the villages, our distribution coincided with a heavy shower of rain, so the farmers set off to plant the seeds straight away", added ICRC delegate Gregoire Crettaz.
The next step will be to ensure a full production of rice through the distribution of seed before the rice planting season in December and January, which are usually the wettest months. Humanitarian agencies engaged in agronomy have agreed to provide local farmers with bags of milled rice in exchange for surplus rice seed. This is a coordinated effort aimed at re-activating the local economy. The ICRC agronomist has been designated as coordinator by all the agencies concerned.
So far, in East Timor the ICRC has distributed over 100 tonnes of seed in the districts of Lautem, Ainaro, Aileu, Baucau, Bobonaro and Ermera, and around the main city of Dili. 1 Further information: Michael Kleiner, ICRC Dili, tel. ++62 390 321 448; satellite tel. ++872 76 184 42 95 / ++872 76 184 39 55
During the weekend of 20 - 21 November 1999, for all information please call the press officer on duty Juan Martinez, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 17