Flood Relief Camp Health: Preventing Diarrhoea and Skin Rashes
The two habits that protect a whole camp: wash hands with soap before eating or feeding a child and after the toilet, and drink only boiled, chlorinated or bottled water. Start ORS at the first loose stool, and take any child with diarrhoea, fever or a spreading rash to the camp doctor early.
Quick facts
- Hands: soap and water for 20 seconds, the single best shield against diarrhoea.
- Water: boiled, chlorinated as the pack directs, or sealed bottled water only.
- ORS: sachet or home mix of 1 litre safe water, 6 level teaspoons sugar, half a level teaspoon salt.
- Skin: itch worse at night between fingers usually means scabies; the whole family gets checked.
- Urgent: rice-water stools, no urine for 6 to 8 hours, blood in stool, or a floppy child.
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Hundreds of families under tents or in a school building, shared latrines, a water tanker that comes when it comes. Relief camps save lives, and they also crowd people together at exactly the moment clean water, soap and privacy are scarce. Diarrhoea and skin infections spread fastest in these conditions, and children are hit first. Most of it can be prevented with a few simple habits, and most of what can’t be prevented can be handled early if you know the signs.
Why diarrhoea spreads so fast in camps
ELI5: diarrhoea germs travel from one person’s stool to another person’s mouth. They ride on unwashed hands, flies, shared cups, dirty water containers and food prepared by someone who just changed a nappy. In a crowded camp that chain is short.
The main culprits after floods include cholera, E. coli, rotavirus, shigella, amoeba and typhoid germs, along with hepatitis A and E, which cause jaundice. You can’t tell them apart at home. What you can do is block the route.
Hand hygiene when water and soap are short
- When: before cooking, before eating, before feeding a child or breastfeeding, after the toilet, after cleaning a child’s bottom, after touching animals.
- How: wet hands, lather with soap, rub palms, backs, between fingers and under nails for 20 seconds, rinse, and shake or air-dry rather than using a shared towel.
- Save water: a “tippy tap” made from a hanging bottle or can with a small hole lets a family wash with a cup of water.
- No soap: ask the camp team; relief agencies usually supply it. Hand sanitiser works on clean-looking hands but not on muddy ones.
Safe water and food in the camp
Drink, cook and brush teeth only with water that is boiled at a rolling boil for a minute, treated with chlorine tablets exactly as the pack says, or from sealed bottles. Store it in a container with a narrow neck or a lid and tap, and pour it out rather than dipping cups or hands in.
Eat food hot and freshly cooked. Avoid cut fruit left in the open, street food near the camp, and anything that has sat around for hours. For more detail on keeping food safe in the rain season, our monsoon stomach infection guide explains the basics.
Use latrines, not open ground. Put children’s stools in the latrine too, since they carry just as many germs as adult stools. Keep flies off food with covers.
Soap before food, soap after the toilet. Everything else in camp health builds on that.
ORS at the first loose stool
ORS replaces the water and salts lost in diarrhoea. It doesn’t stop the loose stools, and it isn’t meant to. It stops dehydration, which is what makes diarrhoea dangerous.
- Use a sachet mixed exactly as the packet says, in safe water.
- No sachet? Mix 1 litre of boiled, cooled water with 6 level teaspoons of sugar and half a level teaspoon of salt. Our homemade ORS recipe shows how.
- Give small, frequent sips, a spoonful every minute for a small child. If they vomit, wait 10 minutes and start again, slower.
- Keep breastfeeding. Keep offering normal food once the child can eat.
- Make fresh ORS every 24 hours.
The camp doctor may add zinc for children with diarrhoea; they’ll give the right amount for the child’s age. Never give anti-diarrhoea medicines to children unless a doctor prescribes them. If you’re not sure whether loose motions with blood or mucus are amoeba or food poisoning, our explainer on amoebic dysentery vs food poisoning shows how doctors tell them apart.
Skin rashes: what’s common in camps
| Problem | What it looks like | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| Scabies (kharish) | Intense itch, worse at night; tiny bumps between fingers, on wrists, waist, armpits | Camp doctor; whole family checked and handled together; wash bedding hot |
| Fungal infection | Red, itchy ring or patch in groin, under breasts, between toes | Keep dry, change damp clothes, doctor for cream |
| Impetigo | Sores with golden-yellow crusts, often on a child’s face | Camp doctor; keep nails short, separate towel |
| Infected cut | Redness spreading, heat, swelling, pus, fever | Camp doctor soon |
| Wet-foot damage | Pale, wrinkled, sore feet after days in water | Dry feet fully, air them, clean dry socks |
Scabies spreads by close skin contact, so it moves through a tent in days. Everyone who shares sleeping space needs to be seen at once, even those not itching yet, as our guide to kharish and scabies explains. See the camp doctor early for any rash that spreads, blisters, oozes or comes with fever.
Did you know? Scabies itch can start two to six weeks after first contact, so a family member who seems fine today may already carry it. More rain-season guides are in our Barsaat and Flood Season section.
Fever in the camp: don’t guess
Fever after a flood can be dengue, malaria, typhoid, leptospirosis or a chest infection. Sleep under a net, cover arms and legs at dusk and dawn, and report any fever to the camp health desk. In suspected dengue, avoid ibuprofen and aspirin; the camp doctor will say what’s safe for fever.
Go straight away for large, watery “rice-water” stools, blood in stool, vomiting everything, no urine for 6 to 8 hours, sunken eyes, no tears, a sunken soft spot in a baby, a child who is drowsy, floppy or hard to wake, fast or difficult breathing, a fit, a rash that doesn’t fade under a pressed glass, yellow eyes, or a fever in a baby under 3 months. Pregnant women and older people with diarrhoea should be seen early. If there’s no doctor in camp, call your local emergency number (1122 in Pakistan, 112 in India).
Relief camp health: questions people ask
How can I prevent diarrhoea in a flood relief camp?
Wash hands with soap before eating and after the toilet, drink only boiled, chlorinated or bottled water, eat hot fresh food and use the latrines. These habits block most diarrhoea germs.
How do I make ORS at home without a sachet?
Mix 1 litre of boiled, cooled water with 6 level teaspoons of sugar and half a level teaspoon of salt. Stir until dissolved and make a fresh batch every day.
How much ORS should a child drink?
Give small sips often, and more after each loose stool. The camp doctor or the sachet pack gives amounts by age; the goal is regular pale urine.
Can breastfeeding continue if a baby has diarrhoea?
Yes. Breastfeeding protects the baby and replaces fluid, so keep going and add ORS if the doctor advises.
What does cholera diarrhoea look like?
Large amounts of watery, pale stool that looks like rice water, often with vomiting and fast dehydration. It’s an emergency, so go to the camp doctor straight away.
Why does scabies spread so quickly in camps?
It passes through close skin contact and shared bedding. Crowded tents make that easy, so the whole family is checked and handled together.
How do I know if a rash is scabies or a fungal infection?
Scabies itches most at night and shows tiny bumps between fingers and on the wrists. Fungal rashes are usually red rings or patches in damp folds. The camp doctor can tell.
What should I do if a cut from floodwater gets red and swollen?
See the camp doctor soon. Spreading redness, heat, pus or fever means infection, and they may also check whether a tetanus jab is due.
Is it safe to drink water from the camp tanker?
Usually, if it’s chlorinated. If you’re unsure, boil it or use chlorine tablets as the pack directs, and store it covered.
Can children be given medicine to stop loose motions?
Not without a doctor. Anti-diarrhoea medicines can be dangerous for children; ORS, feeding and the camp doctor’s advice come first.
How can feet stay healthy in a flood camp?
Dry them fully several times a day, air them, change into dry socks and slippers, and see the camp doctor for cracks, sores or swelling.
When should a pregnant woman see the camp doctor?
Early, for any diarrhoea, fever, bleeding, belly pain, swelling or reduced baby movements. Pregnancy makes dehydration and some infections more serious.