Global & Disaster Medicine

Archive for the ‘Migration’ Category

The Honduran caravan — as many as 4,000 people by some estimates — coming to the border

NYT

“……The caravan’s participants are making the journey for several reasons. Some say they are fleeing gangs that terrorize their neighborhoods and are seeking sanctuary in Mexico or the United States. Others are in search of work and more stability for their families...…”

 


“….Moria, a camp of around 9,000 people living in a space designed for just 3,100, where squalid conditions and an inscrutable asylum process have led to what aid groups describe as a mental health crisis…..”

NYT

“……The overcrowding is so extreme that asylum seekers spend as much as 12 hours a day waiting in line for food that is sometimes moldy. Last week, there were about 80 people for each shower, and around 70 per toilet, with aid workers complaining about raw sewage leaking into tents where children are living. Sexual assaults, knife attacks and suicide attempts are common...…..”

 


Moria: State of Emergency

MSF

An open letter from MSF clinical psychiatrist Dr Alessandro Barberio, Moria camp, Lesbos, Greece:  “……The vast majority of people I see are presenting with psychotic symptoms, suicidal thoughts – even attempts at suicide – and are confused. Many are unable to meet or perform even their most basic everyday functions, such as sleeping, eating well, maintaining personal hygiene, and communicating...….”

 


Moria: A growing safety and mental health crisis in Greece’s largest migrant camp on the island of Lesbos

Unprotected, Unsupported, Uncertain :  Document

  • “……Currently, more than 8,500 people are crammed into a site which only has the capacity to host 3,100.
  • 84 people are expected to share one shower.
  • 72 people are expected to share one toilet.
  • People must rise at four in the morning to stand in line to get food and water, which is distributed at eight.
  • The sewage system is so overwhelmed, that raw sewage has been known to reach the mattresses where children sleep, and flows untreated into open drains and sewers……..”


“The sea journey between North Africa and Italy is now deadlier than at any point since the peak of the European migration crisis in 2015….”

NYT

  • “….For every 18 migrants who reached Italy by boat during the first seven months of 2018, one person drowned attempting that voyage…..”

 


Brazil is sending its army to the Venezuelan border to “guarantee law and order” amid an influx of migrants fleeing the crisis-hit country.

BBC

“…..Millions of Venezuelans have fled their country due to hyperinflation, and food and medicine shortages.

Brazil’s move follows recent border clashes between locals and Venezuelans…..”

What is happening in Venezuela?

  • Venezuela is in its fourth year of an economic crisis
  • Brought on by a crash in oil prices in 2014.
  • Four in five Venezuelans live in poverty
  • People queue for hours to buy food
  • Others are dying from a lack of medicine.
  • Some 2.3 million citizens have fled the country since 2014,


Migrants and asylum seekers arriving in northern Greece are subject to “appalling reception and detention conditions,.”

HRW


Lesbos, Greece: Currently, there are over 8,000 people crammed into a space designed for 3,000 in Moria refugee camp that is leading to clashes and riots, incidents of sexual violence, and a sinking state of mental health.

MSF


Ancylostoma ceylanicum Hookworm in Myanmar Refugees, Thailand, 2012–2015

O’Connell EM, Mitchell T, Papaiakovou M, Pilotte N, Lee D, Weinberg M, et al. Ancylostoma ceylanicum Hookworm in Myanmar Refugees, Thailand, 2012–2015. Emerg Infect Dis. 2018;24(8):1472-1481. https://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2408.180280

hookworm

During 2012–2015, US-bound refugees living in Myanmar–Thailand border camps (n = 1,839) were surveyed for hookworm infection and treatment response by using quantitative PCR. Samples were collected at 3 time points: after each of 2 treatments with albendazole and after resettlement in the United States. Baseline prevalence of Necator americanus hookworm was 25.4%, Ancylostoma duodenale 0%, and Ancylostoma ceylanicum (a zoonosis) 5.4%. Compared with N. americanus prevalence, A. ceylanicum hookworm prevalence peaked in younger age groups, and blood eosinophil concentrations during A. ceylanicum infection were higher than those for N. americanus infection. Female sex was associated with a lower risk for either hookworm infection. Cure rates after 1 dose of albendazole were greater for A. ceylanicum (93.3%) than N. americanus (65.9%) hookworm (p<0.001). Lower N. americanus hookworm cure rates were unrelated to β-tubulin single-nucleotide polymorphisms at codons 200 or 167. A. ceylanicum hookworm infection might be more common in humans than previously recognized.

Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus lifecycle

“…..The most serious effects of hookworm infection are the development of anemia and protein deficiency caused by blood loss at the site of the intestinal attachment of the adult worms. When children are continuously infected by many worms, the loss of iron and protein can retard growth and mental development.….”

 


Off the northern coast of Cyprus: At least 19 people are dead after a ship carrying around 150 presumed migrants capsized in the Mediterranean, but 103 have been rescued so far.

Fox News

 


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