Food and water are very vital factors for maintaining safe and healthy refugee camps. The lack of resources for refugee camps has always been a big issue; children and women, especially, are impacted the greatest. Refugee camps often have no resources as they tend to depend almost entirely on humanitarian organizations and what they can provide. The malnutrition and dehydration that occurs in camps greatly contributes to an increased risk of disease, such as cholera and diarrhea (Thelwell, 2021). Refugee camps often do not have many sanitary measures in place; the increase in disease rates only makes the situation worse for all of the displaced individuals living in the refugee camps.
The UNHCR recommends that each person should receive at least 2,100 calories per day. In 2006, refugees in Tanzania only received approximately 1,460 calories per day. Additionally, a study conducted in 1987 of a Thailand camp yielded results that 30% of the camp’s population suffered from malnutrition (Thelwell, 2021). A review was also carried out to determine the prevalence of undernutrition in children under five years of age in refugee camps. It was concluded that acute malnutrition was very prominent while chronic malnutrition was also observed with high prevalence in specific locations (Skinner et al., 2023).
A young Somali refugee child is suffering from malnutrition after fleeing home with his parents. More than 50% of Somali children arriving in Ethiopia are severely malnourished.
While a human can survive a week without food, it is not possible to survive more than three days without water. Most refugee camps around the world are unable to provide the recommended amount of twenty liters of water per person each day. For example, Jordan is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world but also houses 1.4 million refugees. The refugee camps in Jordan are tremendously strained as they can not supply sufficient water for refugees.
Water infrastructure is the main reason behind the lack of water at refugee camps. It has become very difficult to transport water to all residents at camps. A recent study by the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation revealed that the sewerage network in the country is overflowing and leaking due to the increase in the number of refugees (Dakkak, 2023). There has also been an increase in rates of water borne diseases as there is less water for sanitation and cleaning (Dakkak, 2023). In addition, women of reproductive age have lower access to proper sanitation due to the lack of water (Kayser et al., 2022); these conditions can lead to infections of the urinary and reproductive system and may also result in sepsis.
A refugee girl is collecting water from a tank at Al Hol camp in northeastern Syria.
In this situation, humanitarian organizations, volunteers, and also the government has to be involved to ensure that the recommended daily water and food minimum is being met for all refugee individuals. Anyone can become involved in humanitarian and aid efforts, even if it means that donations are provided to international organizations. One way to help improve the issues of food and water at refugee camps is to do research on which organizations target those problems and are finding solutions. The organizations can be small and local, such as LebRelief in Lebanon. Wide-scale operations, like CARE International, can also be supported. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that issues concerning refugee care at camps are not improving. Acting on the problems and becoming involved is a way to start in the right direction!
Works Cited
Dakkak, Amir. “Water Crisis in Refugee Camps.” EcoMENA, 5 July 2023, www.ecomena.org/water-crisis-in-refugee-camps/.
Kayser, Georgia, et al. “Social and Geographic Inequalities in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Access in 21 Refugee Camps and Settlements in Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, and Zimbabwe - International Journal for Equity in Health.” BioMed Central, BioMed Central, 10 May 2022, equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-022-01626-3.
Skinner, Annabel, et al. “Undernutrition among Children Living in Refugee Camps: A Systematic Review of Prevalence.” BMJ Open, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 15 June 2023, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10277121/.
Thelwell, Kim. “Resource Distribution in Refugee Camps -.” The Borgen Project, Kim Thelwell https://borgenproject.org/wp-content/uploads/logo.jpg, 2 Sept. 2021, borgenproject.org/refugee-camps/.