Black flies invade refugee camp
Black flies have invaded the Ampain Refugee Camp in the Ellembele District in the Western Region.
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The flies, whose origin are not yet known, are threatening the health of the Ivorian refugees who have been camped there for about two years following a civil strife in Cote d Ivoire.
The Manager for the Ampain Refugee camp, Mr Kelly Forson, made this known when the Communications Officer of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Mrs Evelyn Offeibea Baddoo, together with some journalists visited the camp as part of a tour to access the use of Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLITNs) distributed among the people in the camp.
UNICEF paid a working visit to the camp and other communities in the Central and Western regions that benefitted from a total of 2.035 million LLITNs procured with support from the Department for International Development (DFID) and distributed by the Ghana Health Service (GHS).
The Ampain camp, which has a total population of 4,700 people, benefitted from 900 of the nets.
The Camp Manager appealed for support from organisations and philanthropists so that the camp and its immediate environs could be fumigated immediately to forestall any health hazards.
He said although the health implications of the flies were not immediately known, there was the need for an immediate action to be taken to avoid any health complications among the inmates in the camp in future.
According to him, fortunately, the insects are unable to enter their rooms as they protect themselves with the LLITNs.
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The insects, which he said were little black flies and bit especially between 6 pm and 9 pm, made it impossible for the refugees to stay outside as they had invaded the camp in their numbers.
Mr Forson, who attributed the invasion of the black flies to the immediate surroundings of the camp, said there was the need for a mass spraying exercise to be undertaken so as to help drive away the flies and other insects including mosquitoes which had become common in the vicinity.
He said the LLITNs had been very beneficial to the occupants of the camp as they had helped reduce the incidence of malaria among the people in the camp.
Story by Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho