21 Oct 2022
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In cooperation with the Service for Foreigner’s Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, DRC has now established an isolation ward within the infirmary that operates in Temporary Reception Center Lipa, where currently around 500 people on the move - single men - are accommodated. The isolation ward's capacity is 18 places, where positive cases of monkey pox infected persons would be accommodated.
"This is a preventive measure because we want to be ready to adequately respond to the potential health risks that monkey pox causes around the world. COVID-19 has taught us all a lot, most of all how important planning and timely response is to prevent the spread of infectious diseases."
"We are grateful to the Service for Foreigner’s Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for collaboration to be able to establish the isolation ward. Our joint efforts have also allowed for delivering information sessions to current residents of the center in Lipa as well as to employees of partner organisations involved in mixed migration responses."
"They now know more about preventive measures, recognising the first symptoms, but also about the steps they should take in case they detect symptoms in themselves or in people they are in contact with," tells Dr. Marko Isajlović, Medical Advisor with DRC in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The isolation ward will also serve to accommodate people suffering from other communicable diseases such as scabies or COVID-19. Preparedness to relocate people currently residing in the Temporary Reception Center in Lipa is also in place. In the case of a more complex clinical picture, they will be placed in health facilities in the Una-Sana canton.
Information sessions on the prevention of monkey pox were also held in other Temporary Reception Centers around Bosnia and Herzegovina.