In camps like Mahama in Rwanda, cases of non-communicable diseases such as stroke and renal failure are growing – and even children are affected
The profile of people registering at the two health centres in Mahama refugee camp, Rwanda, is changing. Doctors no longer focus on diseases such as malaria and diarrhoea, but increasingly on conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. And the patients are getting younger.
Among those registered are a six-year-old with hypertension (high blood pressure); a two-year-old with respiratory problems; a woman in her early 40s in renal failure – she needs a kidney transplant after developing hypertension during pregnancy – and a woman in her 20s who was first diagnosed with diabetes when she fell into a coma.
