Immunisation and counselling for Kosovar refugee children.

James Ciment, New York 141 In an effort to cope with the medical and psychological needs of children among the Kosovar refugees, Unicef has embarked on several immunisation and counselling programmes in Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Last week, the agency began immunising around 9000 children under the age of 5 who had fled to refugee camps in Macedonia. The vaccinations included in the programme are against routine childhood diseases, including polio, diphtheria, measles, rubella, whooping cough, and tetanus. Vaccinations will be given to each child over a period of several weeks. In addition, newborn babies are being vaccinated against tuberculosis. Unicef has also innoculated an estimated 25 000 children against polio and measles in the camps around Kukes, Albania. Ultimately, the agency hopes to immunise 80 000 children in Albania and Macedonia, as well as a smaller number in Montenegro. Asked why such immunisations were needed for a population that once had access to a comparatively comprehensive medical care system, Unicef officials point to the unsettled situation in Kosovo before the latest outbreak of ethnic cleansing and fighting. “It is true that Yugoslavia had a fairly high rate of immunisation,” noted Unicef communications officer Claudia Rader, “but it broke down during the last year of troubles.” Unicef is also establishing a network of child counselling services in the camps. Several teams of three people have already been dispatched to Albania and Macedonia to train local people—both in the host countries and among the refugees—to serve as counsellors. It is hoped that teachers and social workers, in particular, will volunteer. Unicef officials said that the programme for children traumatised by war is designed to re-establish normalcy and routine in young lives. “They have nothing to do and nothing to look forward to,” noted Ms Rader, who spent the last week of April touring camps in Albania and Macedonia. The aim of the counselling is to reestablish a sense of trust. Group activities, said officials, help children who have become withdrawn, while drawing exercises aid children who find it difficult to speak about the horrors they have seen.