The UN migration agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has stepped up medical services to help combat the increasing health risks faced by the fleeing Somalis in Kenyan and Ethiopian camps.

The development came amid the outbreak of suspected measles and other infectious diseases in three refugee camps in Ethiopia.

In Kenya, IOM continues to provide safe and dignified transport assistance to Somali migrants from Dagahaley on the outskirts of the Dadaab camps to the newly commissioned Ifo extension camp.

"These are vulnerable displaced Somalis who have travelled on foot for many weeks fleeing from drought and famine in Southern Somalia. When they crossed the border into Kenya they settled outside the main camps for lack of space," it said in a statement received in Nairobi on Tuesday.

To date, IOM said it has assisted 2,904 displaced Somalis to move to the new accommodation at Ifo.

The assistance includes pre-departure medical check-ups to determine whether the passenger is healthy to travel. IOM aims to relocate some 30,000 Somalis from the overcrowded Dadaab camps to the Ifo extension camp. "At the Dolo Ado transit centre, IOM and its health partners, including UNICEF and the Ethiopian Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs have started a comprehensive campaign to vaccinate all children against measles from the age of six months up to 15 years, before relocating them to the camps," IOM said.

At Melkadida refugee camp, located 35 km from Dollo Ado transit centre, the organization is carrying out a measles vaccination campaign for children between six months and 15 years of age and is also administering polio drops to children under five years of age.

Out of the 30,000 that will be inoculated, IOM will vaccinate 7, 500 children by the end of August.

The IOM medical team is now stationed at the camp and is working alongside UNHCR and the Ethiopian Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs. It is playing a key role in the measles vaccination campaign through the identification of measles cases and the distribution of medical supplies and equipment.

IOM has also set up a preventive intervention at Dollo Ado transit center, and plans are underway to start screening those suspected of being infected with tuberculosis and other contagious diseases.

The transmission of TB and other infectious diseases has become the biggest issue of concern in the camps.

The three refugee camps at Dollo Ado shelter a population of 118,524, of whom 78,000 are Somalis fleeing drought and famine.

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