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Children infected by chickenpox in Mon refugee camp
Sat 14 Jan 2006,
Chan Mon, IMNA
About 35 children in a small Mon refugee camp called
Ched-Dike about 35 kilometres west of the Thai border
in Three Pagoda Pass have been suffering from
chickenpox.
The infection came to light about a month ago and it
came from a child from another village who had come
for treatment to the village clinic, claimed a medical
worker. The camp has a hundred houses and almost all
the children in the camp have been infected, according
to the chief medical worker Nai Banya Mon. Some elders
are also infected.
“We do not have medicine for prevention and treatment.
We just have a few medicines for fever,” Banya Mon
added. The medical workers are worried given the lack
of medicine and because the camp has not received
support from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) like the
others camp. Some of the other Mon camps have also
reported the infection. Some children in Hlockhani
have been sent to hospital for treatment. But
Hlockhani has medicine stocks for six months because
MSF has withdrawn support.
A month ago children in Hlockhani were infected with
chickenpox and MSF from France which helped Mon
refugees provide injection to the children in the camp
stopped work.
According to a Mon medical worker, chickenpox
infection was in evidence twice in Mon camps. Due to
the current infection and MSF’s withdrawal of support
from the area, the camp leaders are worried and are
looking for medical support.
Although chickenpox is not always fatal but if the
eyes are infected people can become blind, said a
medical worker.
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