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Transcript/ScriptUSAGM SHARE
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: KENYA REFUGEES CHOLERA MEASLES (TV)
HEADLINE: Kenya Concerned by Cholera, Measles Outbreaks at Congested Refugee Camp
TEASER: The outbreaks come as thousands of Somalis have been arriving at the camp this year to escape record drought back home
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, 12/06/2022 at 8:30AM
BYLINE: Juma Majanga
DATELINE: Dadaab Refugee Camp in Dadaab, Kenya
VIDEOGRAPHER:
VIDEO EDITOR: Roderick James
SCRIPT EDITORS: Schearf, MAS
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA Original
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO X
TRT: 3:02
VID APPROVED BY: Salem Solomon
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES: A radio version will follow.))
((PRODUCERS/EDS: Update figures in intro as needed))
((INTRO))
[[Aid groups say measles and cholera outbreaks at Kenya's congested Dadaab refugee camp have killed at least five people and sickened more than 400. The outbreaks come as thousands of Somalis have been arriving at the camp this year to escape record drought back home, stretching camp resources. Juma Majanga reports from Dadaab refugee camp in northeast Kenya.]]
((NARRATOR))
Somali refugee Shamsa Adan is grateful her son Abdulahi is alive, but their story is one of survival and death.
She was left disabled after being shot nine times in 2003 by al-Shabab militants, who in May this year killed her husband with a grenade.
Somalia’s record drought starved her 2-year-old daughter to death in October, so she fled to Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp.
Then a cholera and measles outbreak killed her 4-year-old daughter in November and cholera sickened Abdulahi, who is still recovering.
((Shamsa Adan, Somali Refugee in Kenya, (Somali, 12 secs))
“It makes me have painful flashbacks. I feel bad about my husband being killed; I feel bad about the death of my children. I’m not able to talk about them.”
((NARRATOR))
Adan is one of more than 80,000 Somalis the UN says have fled to Kenya’s overcrowded Dadaab camp since October to escape drought only to face disease.
In nearby Hagadera, the International Rescue Committee’s health center alone has treated close to 300 cholera cases since the October outbreak.
((Athanus Kongani, International Rescue Committee (English, ?? secs))
“But because of the short rains that we experienced recently, and compounding with the current outbreak, the cases might really go high.”
((NARRATOR))
Most of the patients are children, like Somali refugee Adhar Abdikadir’s 3-year-old son.
((Adhar Abdikadir, Mother of Cholera Patient, (Swahili, 11 secs))
“I thought my child was going to die, but I thank God he is alive. He has been given medication to help him recover.”
((NARRATOR))
While VOA was filming at the health center another patient, a middle-aged policeman attached to an aid agency, died from the water-borne disease.
Compounding the cholera is an outbreak in the camp of measles, a childhood virus spread by sneezing and coughing.
((NARRATOR))
With thousands more Somali refugees expected to flee drought, aid groups say outbreaks of infectious diseases like cholera and measles could strain the camp’s healthcare.
((Guy Avognon, Head of UNHCR in Dadaab, (English, 20 secs))
“In a context where there is overcrowding in the space available, because if we are not allowed to do proper site planning, decongest the camps, that means people are on top of each other and this can spread like wildfire. So, that risk is there. And the only way to mitigate it is, more attention.”
((NARRATOR))
Medics note children malnourished by drought-induced hunger are more vulnerable to disease.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s government and aid groups say they are mobilizing resources to try to tackle the twin outbreaks.
((Juma Majanga, for VOA News, Dadaab Refugee Camp, Kenya.))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateDecember 8, 2022 03:39 EST
BylineJuma Majanga
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
