16/05/2005
stampa
invia
Infectious diseases, lack of water and basic sanitation make survival difficult.
These are the problems facing the 300 residents of San José de Apartado in Colombia
after they abandoned their village. Following a series of murders in mid-February
and the arrival of the police, they left their homes. They built a new village
from scraps of wood and sheet metal and called it San Josesito. “It’s like a mini-refugee
camp under construction,” said Steve Hide, coordinator of the Doctors Without Borders (“Médécins sans frontière,” MSF) group working in the community. “Respiratory
diseases, diarrhea, rashes and what looks like malaria and parasites are all on
the rise. Plus there are a lot of people with psychological problems linked to
the trauma they suffered,” Hide added.
Mental anguish. San Josesito is not an isolated case. Much of Colombia’s population faces psychological
difficulties. According to Kostas Moschochoritis, who was sent from Italy to coordinate
some of MSF’s projects in Colombia, “Mental health is a serious problem that according
to some estimates affects 40 percent of refugees. You have to remember that—at
some 3 million people—the number of refugees in Columbia is the third highest
in the world after Sudan and Congo. Unfortunately, what happened in San José is
not unusual. It happens all over Colombia. The village may have a different name
but the story is the same. And it’s not just the fighting that’s the problem—that’s
been going on now for forty years. Widespread crime claims more victims than armed
conflicts. More than 500,000 people live in the slums of Cali, which has one of
the highest rates of crime in the world. When I got to Cali in 1999, there was
some violence, but the residents could still move around and leave the city. A
week after my arrival, 80 people were abducted from a restaurant where people
used to go on weekends to eat 18 kilometers away. Overnight Cali turned into a
city under siege. People can’t leave anymore. The nursery schools were like prisons
with locks and fences because of the fear of kidnappings.” The result of this
constant lack of security and precarious living conditions is clear to see given
the high number of refugees with psychological problems.
Anonymous in every way. Colombians leave their homes for the outlying areas of the city to get away
from the violence. They’re also escaping from their names and their very identities:
they want to disappear and be forgotten. But this desire for anonymity comes at
a price. “In Colombia, to have access to healthcare you have to be enrolled and
you have to have paid into the system. If you don’t pay in you have to buy your
own medicines and pay for exams,” explains Moschochoritis. “But the refugees that
leave the forests or small villages to move into the growing slums of the big
cities are looking for anonymity. So they’re outside the system and have no way
to access healthcare. And then some of them just don’t realize that they have
to register. There’s a lot of confusion.”
Isolated from care. This is the situation just outside the cities where relief workers try to provide
assistance by operating out of existing hospitals. They supply medicine, help
with registration, and offer treatment for those wounded in mind and body. “Colombians
have to deal with various forms of violence and psychological trauma. In addition
to fighting and crime, sexual abuse and domestic violence are also widespread
in the slums and in areas of conflict. And then there are areas far from the city
where there’s fighting and treatment is even more of a challenge. People can’t
move around and the government is nowhere in sight because of the lack of security.
We reach those places with mobile medical units. We treat mostly respiratory infections,
diarrhea, rashes and we give out vaccines. But here too, counseling and therapy
are important components of our services,” concludes Moschochoritis.
stampainvia
Healthcare hard to find in Colombia
Infectious diseases, lack of water and basic sanitation make survival difficult.
These are the problems facing the 300 residents of San José de Apartado in Colombia
after they abandoned their village. Following a series of murders in mid-February
and the arrival of the police, they left their homes. They built a new village
from scraps of wood and sheet metal and called it San Josesito. “It’s like a mini-refugee
camp under construction,” said Steve Hide, coordinator of the Doctors Without Borders (“Médécins sans frontière,” MSF) group working in the community. “Respiratory
diseases, diarrhea, rashes and what looks like malaria and parasites are all on
the rise. Plus there are a lot of people with psychological problems linked to
the trauma they suffered,” Hide added.
Mental anguish. San Josesito is not an isolated case. Much of Colombia’s population faces psychological
difficulties. According to Kostas Moschochoritis, who was sent from Italy to coordinate
some of MSF’s projects in Colombia, “Mental health is a serious problem that according
to some estimates affects 40 percent of refugees. You have to remember that—at
some 3 million people—the number of refugees in Columbia is the third highest
in the world after Sudan and Congo. Unfortunately, what happened in San José is
not unusual. It happens all over Colombia. The village may have a different name
but the story is the same. And it’s not just the fighting that’s the problem—that’s
been going on now for forty years. Widespread crime claims more victims than armed
conflicts. More than 500,000 people live in the slums of Cali, which has one of
the highest rates of crime in the world. When I got to Cali in 1999, there was
some violence, but the residents could still move around and leave the city. A
week after my arrival, 80 people were abducted from a restaurant where people
used to go on weekends to eat 18 kilometers away. Overnight Cali turned into a
city under siege. People can’t leave anymore. The nursery schools were like prisons
with locks and fences because of the fear of kidnappings.” The result of this
constant lack of security and precarious living conditions is clear to see given
the high number of refugees with psychological problems.Anonymous in every way. Colombians leave their homes for the outlying areas of the city to get away
from the violence. They’re also escaping from their names and their very identities:
they want to disappear and be forgotten. But this desire for anonymity comes at
a price. “In Colombia, to have access to healthcare you have to be enrolled and
you have to have paid into the system. If you don’t pay in you have to buy your
own medicines and pay for exams,” explains Moschochoritis. “But the refugees that
leave the forests or small villages to move into the growing slums of the big
cities are looking for anonymity. So they’re outside the system and have no way
to access healthcare. And then some of them just don’t realize that they have
to register. There’s a lot of confusion.”Isolated from care. This is the situation just outside the cities where relief workers try to provide
assistance by operating out of existing hospitals. They supply medicine, help
with registration, and offer treatment for those wounded in mind and body. “Colombians
have to deal with various forms of violence and psychological trauma. In addition
to fighting and crime, sexual abuse and domestic violence are also widespread
in the slums and in areas of conflict. And then there are areas far from the city
where there’s fighting and treatment is even more of a challenge. People can’t
move around and the government is nowhere in sight because of the lack of security.
We reach those places with mobile medical units. We treat mostly respiratory infections,
diarrhea, rashes and we give out vaccines. But here too, counseling and therapy
are important components of our services,” concludes Moschochoritis.Valeria Confalonieri
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