The Calais ‘jungle’

The Calais ‘jungle’ is a shocking indictment of governmental policy towards refugees in 2016.¹ Medical assistance to the inhabitants of the unofficial refugee camp, many of whom are unaccompanied children, is at best scanty and uncoordinated.

Most of the refugees live in deplorable conditions under tarpaulin sheets on the former dumping sites, which are also home to sizeable rat populations. Many sleep close to the ground and are forced to endure squalid toilet facilities. Some suffer with infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, and are in need of urgent medical treatment. They are exposed to assault, ethnic and police violence, sexual exploitation, infectious disease, and psychological illness.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), for example MSF, and local charities such as the Salam Association are on hand to provide a level of primary care, yet what is needed is an orchestrated medical campaign to include screening for infectious disease and even secondary care for certain cases. We contend that a joint Franco-British programme is needed urgently to augment public and environmental health measures in the refugee camps around Calais and to liaise with the NGOs already in operation there.

The British and French Armed Forces benefit from unparalleled resources to provide medical aid in adverse situations — both contributed admirably to containing the recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa — and have a history of collaboration. Could we invite their respective medical services, with their wealth of experience, staff, and supplies, to become fully engaged in assessing and addressing the refugees’ health needs in the camps?

In these days of extreme global inequality, a compassionate governmental response could powerfully counter the narrative of violence we appear to have grown accustomed to.

• © British Journal of General Practice 2016