Tuberculosis control in Somali refugee camps.
By mid-1981 an estimated 500 000 refugees were living in camps in Somalia. As the temporary camps have become permanent, crowded settlements, tuberculosis has become an increasing health problem. Initial treatment programmes were started in most of the camps, which had no microscopy facilities or active case finding. This paper describes the subsequent evaluation of the tuberculosis programme in one of the camps in the N.W. of Somalia, with a population of 25 000, and the recommendations proposed to improve its effectiveness. Fifty per cent of patients started on treatment were lost to the programme in the first year: many had left the camp, others defaulted while remaining there. As microscopy facilities became available it was possible to concentrate the limited resources on sputum positive patients and to attempt active case finding. Evaluation of the programme has indicated particular problems in the managements of tuberculosis in refugee camps.
D006801:Humans; D010349:Patient Compliance; D012036:Refugees; D012998:Somalia; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control*