Tanzania: “People have to deal with these difficult living conditions because they often don’t know anything else.”

These large shelters are made of wooden piles and covered with plastic sheets, and each shelter is about 40 meters by 10 meters. Each shelter houses 200 people – too many people for the space. In reality, people live in the open air during the day and sleep inside the shelters at night, on mats on the ground. In these conditions, it is difficult to use mosquito nets, and malaria is also a big problem.

Our medical team also saw many people with chronic respiratory infections. It was the dry season when I first arrived, and the camp was dusty. Life was difficult for the refugees, and it was difficult for our team to work there.

We also saw a lot of people with diarrhoea due to poor hygiene. The toilets in the camp were a problem – they quickly became smelly and dirty because so many people were using them. Some people had skin diseases and we saw a lot of pregnant women.

As Nyarugusu became more crowded, food and water became a problem, and tensions grew between the newly arrived Burundians and the Congolese who had lived there for years.

In early October, a new camp called Nduta was set up two hours away, and by the end of December, a third camp should be established.

Nduta is hosting the third wave of refugees. We are now seeing more and more single mothers whose husbands are trapped or killed in Burundi. Travel is increasingly difficult, so few elderly people are trying to travel.

MSF is the only health organization working in Nduta. We have set up a mobile clinic and are building a hospital. Currently, the hospital has an outpatient department, an emergency room and a ward with 14 beds and two intensive care beds, but the wards are full.