The Impact of Refugee Camps at Thai-Myanmar Border on the Health of Thai People - ผลกระทบของศูนย์อพยพชายแดนไทย-พม่าต่อสุขภาพของคนไทย

Abstract

                  Myanmar refugees reside in nine camps along Thai-Myanmar border which are located in Ratchaburi Province, Kanchanaburi Province, Tak Province and Mae Hong Son Province.  These refugees may be carrier and transmit diseases to Thai people especially those who live in the above four host provinces.

                   This quantitative study compared the communicable diseases in three groups, those in refugee camps, the above four host provinces and the rest of the provinces and revealed morbidity relationship between the camps and the host provinces.  It was done by selecting two diseases from each of food and water-borne diseases, vector-borne diseases and contact-caused diseases, namely acute diarrhea, dysentery, malaria, dengue hemorrhagic fever, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections respectively from 2002-2006.

                               The study revealed that the refugee camps had a very high morbidity rate of all the six diseases.  The uppermost was 200 times higher than those of the host provinces.  However there was no relationship between them which meant that the morbidity of the refugee camps had no effect on that of the host provinces.

                  There were only three diseases that the host provinces had higher morbidity rate than the rest of the provinces, namely malaria which was 11 times higher but acute diarrhea and dysentery were only a little higher which could be caused by other factors rather than the Myanmar refugees.

                  It was concluded that there was no evidence from epidemiological surveillance report to indicate that the Myanmar refugees in the camps had a negative impact on the health of Thai people especially those who lived along Thai-Myanmar border from 2002 to 2006.

Key words:      refugee camps, Thai-Myanmar border, communicable diseases