Given the location of the camp of Oure Cassoni in a semi-desert and remote area, it seems unlikely that the refugees can overcome their reliance on humanitarian aid to meet their essential needs, particularly water, food, health treatment and energy resources, including for the refugees who arrived in 2004. The reduced agricultural and market garden production capacities as well as the scarcity of available firewood prevents the almost 28,000 refugees from reaching substantial food self-sufficiency.

Providing the essential needs in a post-emergency context

ACTED hence addresses some of the refugees’ essential needs through monthly food and non-food distributions in the camp and in cooperation with the World Food Programme (WFP). 1,200,000 food rations have thus been distributed in five years. ACTED also conducts monthly oil and wood distributions, which are essential for cooking.

ACTED estimates child malnutrition in the Oure Cassoni Camp at almost 12% in July 2009. On the one hand, malnutrition is rooted in the difficult environment of the camp and has direct effects on the –particularly vulnerable - children’s health. With regards to its provision of water, the Oure Cassoni Camp essentially depends on the Karyari artificial lake which at some points almost dries up and is polluted with algae. Illnesses and malnutrition are both part of the same vicious cycle. Either because of breathing infections or of hydric illnesses, a sick child is likely to have anorexia. Besides, Oure Cassoni refugees live in a very harsh climate (violent winds, intense cold during the winter months, etc.).

On the other hand, although some households pursue market and service activities, breeding or garden agriculture, which allow them an income and an improved diet, Oure Cassoni refugees almost exclusively rely on ACTED food distributions. This food aid is meant to reach a standard of 2,100 kilocalories per day for each family member, thus guaranteeing a satisfactory nutritious situation in the camp. Nevertheless, the refugees however frequently sell or barter the food they receive to fulfil other needs, such as purchasing meat, cereal grind, clothes and medicine, for them and their livestock. Such practices imply harmful consequences on the refugees’ nutritional status, particularly on the children.

Responding to malnutrition

Given these circumstances, protein and energetic malnutrition persists in the camp, despite the numerous treatments and efforts in response to this issue. To tackle this, ACTED has launched since 2006 four nutritional centres in Oure Cassoni and the town of Bahai, which have allowed to mitigate child mortality. Each week, children with worrying nutritional status are weighted and measured at the Supplementary Nutritional Centre (SNC) and receive a complementary ration. Such follow up allows to interact directly with the mothers to inform and advise them on best nutritional practices. The most worrying cases are either taken to the Ambulatory Nutritional Centre (ANC), which monitors them in the camp, or, for the most severe cases, to the Therapeutic Nutritional Centre (TNC) in Bahai Hospital. The TNC is a hospital facility located in the paediatrics clinic of Bahai Hospital. It runs 24 hours a day and treats children who suffer from acute malnutrition. It usually takes a week for a child to recover, which corresponds to the duration of an antibiotic treatment but also to the improvement of vital signs and a return to appetite. The treatment involves 3 stages: stage I with the provision of nutritious milk; a subsequent transitional stage which includes a more concentrated milk; and finally stage II, during which it is possible to add a more nourishing wholefood (such as plumpy nut, a therapeutic sesame biscuit of 500 kilocalories or gruel - CSB. During this ultimate stage, the number of milk-based meals is reduced while their concentration is increased.

Components of the distributions

The food, non-food and energetic resources distributions benefit the entire population of the camp, which almost counts 28,000 people. Each refugee receives:

Food items: (per day)

425 grams of cereals (sorghum)

50 grams of high mix of soya and corn (CSB)

50 grams of legumes

45 grams of oil

15 grams of salt

25 grams of sugar

Non-food items: (per month)

1 piece of soap

Varying each month: jerrycans, basins, sanitary cloths, etc.

Energy: (per month)

3 kilograms of wood

2 litres of oil (1,5 litres for households with improved hearths)

Since 2004, almost 28,000 of the refugees who have fled the conflict in Darfur have lived in the camp of Oure Cassoni, the Sudanese refugee camp located the farthest north of Eastern Chad. ACTED has been assisting the refugees in the camp since then. Five years later, the emergency situation continues. Although self-sufficiency remains elusive, ACTED has been, in partnership with both the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department and the UNHCR, committed to enhance the future prospects of the most deprived.

Read more about ACTED intervention in Ouré Cassoni:

Towards the autonomy of the assisted populations