31 January-5 February 2000
Background health information
Health data on the Chechen population has not been available at federal level for the last few years, we therefore do not have a comprehensive picture of the health of the population prior to the conflict. What we do know is that much of the health infrastructure has been working on a low level, if at all. Apart from the emergency services for war casualties, only private health care is available for those able to pay for it. Vaccination coverage has been incomplete and varying in different geographic areas for the last four to five years.
One of the main health problems before displacement would have been the health status of women, combining several risk factors; low status in society, physically hard work, multi-pregnancies, chronic anaemia, and lack of gynaecological and obstetric care. At present, an estimated 180,000 persons displaced from Chechnya, are staying in Ingushetia.
The bulk of these internally displaced persons (IDPs) population is staying within host families. In addition, there are registered about 182 spontaneous settlements and 19 camps, with about 22,000 IDPs. The majority of the IDPs are women and children. In collective accommodation, women are responsible for collecting humanitarian assistance, for fetching water, taking care of hygiene and preparing food.
According to the ongoing DRC survey, we have the following composition of vulnerable groups :
Pregnant and lactating women 1.5 %
Infants under 12 months 2 %
Children between 12 - 36 months 5.5 %
Physical or mental handicaps 2 %
Elderly over 65 years without adequate family/social support 4 %
Children up to 14 years without adequate family/social support 0.7 %
Single-parent families 1.6 %
Totally dependent on humanitarian aid 83 %.
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