Friday, August 31, 2012

Blog One: August 31, 2012 5:06 PM: Disease in South Sudan Refugee Camp

Food is on the way for Yida, a refugee camp in South Sudan with only roughly around a month's supply left. However, limited consolation is this to an area vastly impacted by hygienic inadequacies. Yida consists of approximately 60,000 refugees nutritionally dependent on Nuba, a region across the border in Sudan's mountains. While the alimentation situation(which can be impeded by rains and bombing in the area) is slowly being improved upon, of greater consequence are problems such as diarrhea caused by an impure water supply, which mainly affects children. Most refugees lack toilets and soap, the latter of which will be redistributed to a two-times greater degree by the United Nations. More toilets will also be built, as well as access points to running water. On a slightly more worrisome note, the 60,000 refugees present a balance in proportion to the size of improvements in food supply and hygiene. If this number significantly increases, the problems will not change.
The lack of basic human necessities presented in this situation is what gives birth to the passion that drives people to actively foment social change, whether they are affected by it directly or indirectly. By tearing down the fence that separates mental health from physical health, we can see that they are both two halves of the same whole: the distress that the refugees currently face stems from their inability to provide themselves with ample food and sanitation. Although this limitation was not described as being life-threatening, it has a large impact on the quality of life in South Sudan. People across the world have seen the urgency of this problem; shown in the book Wine to Water by Doc Hendley. Hendley travels to Sudan to improve their water situation based on his belief that access to clean water is the most basic human right. Why is it so important for people to consume the right substances? Because if they don't, mental and physical health(synonymous with quality of life) are unattainable.




http://www.voanews.com/content/disease_malnutrition_plague_growing_south_sudan_refugee_camp/1496629.html

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