Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T05:29:09.835Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Refugee Camp Medical Care During Cambodian Disaster Relief

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Bruce Feldstein
Affiliation:
From Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Inc. (B. Feldstein, MD), 197 Elm Street, Oberlin, OH 44074.
Robert Weiss
Affiliation:
From Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Inc. (B. Feldstein, MD), 197 Elm Street, Oberlin, OH 44074.

Extract

The Khao I Dang Holding Center for Kampucheans opened November 21, 1979 as part of an effort to bring relief to the thousands of Cambodian on the eastern frontier of Thailand. The camp population increased from 4800 that first day to 50,000 by December 1, 1979 and 110,000 by mid-January, 1980. Sixty-one percent (61%) of the population were 15 years of age and older; 12% of these over 44. Thirty-nine percent (39%) were children under 15.

Although each disaster is unique, the medical problems for a type of disaster in a stated area are considered predictable. This was not the case at Khao I Dang for hospital pysicians in providing patient care. It has been shown that relief efforts are amenable to study, yet such studies have been handicapped by a lack of data. Since major disasters involving international aid are reported several times a year, the problem is considerable.

Type
Part III: International Organizations - Planning - Disaster Events
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Ncihurg, P. Medical and Public Health Surveillance Report No. 5. ICRC Epidemiologic Unit for Sa-Keo, Kamput, Khao J Dang, the “border,” Bangkok, 17 February 1980.Google Scholar
2. Emergcncy care in natural disasters. WHO Chron 34:96100, 1980.Google Scholar
3. Glass, R et al. Rapid assessment of health status and preventative- medicine needs of newly arrived Kampuchean refugees, Sa Keo, Thailand. Lancet 1:868872, 1980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4Goodman, R et al. Health needs of refugees. Lancet 1:1139, 1980.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5. Dahlberg, K. Medical care of Cambodian refugees. JAMA 243:10621065, 1980.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. de Ville de Goyet, C et al. Health aspects in natural disasters. Tropical Doctor 6:152157, 1976.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. Lechat, MF. Disaster epidemiology. Int J of Epidemiol 4:57, 1975.Google Scholar
8. de Ville de Goyet, C et al. The management of nutritional emergencies in large populations. World Health Organization, 1979.Google Scholar