Rehabilitation care at Sahara refugee camp

Introduction: The number of physically disabled children is increasing. That’s why health programs that aim to improve health quality to these children and their families should be supported. The aim of this project was to train health professionals to do rehabilitation care activities at the Sahara Refugee Camp, and help (teach?) familiesto take care of the child at home.
Methods and Material: It was a descriptive and transversal study that took place at the Smara camp at the Sahara refugee camp. Twenty physically disabled children were selected. During 3 weeks they received 30 minutes of rehabilitation care. At the same time two health professionals were trained. In the last week of the study the physical therapists visited the children's houses to give orientation to the families, using the material that could be found in each house. In the last day all the participants were invited to join in a meeting were the study was evaluated through an interview.
 Results: After one month all participants were invited to a meeting in which they were able to express their opinion about the program. The mothers affirmed that their children live with no health care - so the that project was an important opportunity to receive information, to learn how to better take care of the children and to reduce the anxiety about their children’s future. The health professionals that took part in the training program stated that because of the total absence of rehabilitation care inside the refugee camp the project was very important to help the many disabled people in all age that cannot be properly treated.
Conclusion: After this experience we concluded that it is very important to create more programs at international cooperation level, especially at refugee area, aimed to rehabilitation training and family empowerment.