Having arrived in the village of Goura in Cameroon’s far northwest, they are in urgent need of food, shelter, and water, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today, after launching an emergency response.
"They left on foot very early in the morning—women, children, and elderly people," said Dr. Silas Adamou Moussa, MSF deputy program manager for emergencies.
"When they fled, they had to leave elderly and sick relatives behind.
They brought along what possessions they could, but in Goura they have nothing to drink and nowhere to sleep.
The refugees have been staying in a large, informal camp in Goura since late January.
"This is not the first time that people from Rann have had to flee to Cameroon," Dr. Moussa said.
"The first time, some of them returned home after having fled, but not this time.
Their children are afraid."
Access to safe drinking water has been a major problem in the camp.
MSF and other aid providers have been working to increase the provision of drinking water to 240,000 liters per day in the camp.

A stereotypical photo depicting hunger in sub-Saharan Africa might show a gaunt victim.
When photographer Chris de Bode traveled to Cameroon–in an area where conflict, drought, and a swelling population of refugees have led to ongoing food shortages–he focused on the food instead.
On one plate, with rice, mango leaves, and maize, we see the half-eaten meal of a family that fled from a village on the border with Nigeria when armed men attacked.
They now live in a makeshift refugee camp, but there isn’t enough food; after begging, they’ve managed to gather one meal for the day for seven people.
Another photo shows a bowl of “super cereal,” a milky white porridge used as an emergency supplement.
The northern part of the country, already the poorest region before the conflict began, has been especially hard hit.
Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds of people and forced them to work as farmers for the group; in some places, militants have issued death threats to farmers who don’t want to give up part of their harvest.
The group has also stolen at least $6 million worth of livestock.
The branches of the Red Cross working in the region provide cash to support some people in the area (giving them the option to spend it on food, when food is available, or on whatever else is needed, like repairing homes damaged in fighting), and work to bring in food when it runs out at markets–though the conflict and treacherous roads make that difficult.
“I felt by doing the same, which I’ve done a lot over the years, it wouldn’t add anything.

Cameroonians joined the world over to observe World Water Day, March 22 but by far not every city in the country enjoys easy access to the commodity.
In Cameroon, residents of major cities suffer frequent water cuts, with schools impacted in particular.
Some residents, in Yaounde, capital city of Cameroon Yaounde say barely 35 percent of water supplied.
Many have resorted to unsafe sources to get the precious liquid.
A statement by a UNICEF official, in commemoration of the International World Water Day, said access to safe drinking water remained a challenge, noting that the recent studies, conducted by the government, indicated that about 40 percent of households and millions in rural areas walked long distances to source unsafe water from lakes, streams and river.
The statement said: “Children without access to safe water are more likely to die in infancy and throughout childhood from waterborne diseases.
Diarrhea remains the leading cause of death among children under five years of age in Far North Cameroon.” Little wonder why malnutrition reigns supreme in the country’s Northern regions.
With longer dry season and little rainfall, residents in the area more than often resort to nearby ponds and streams to get the precious liquid.

Water is everywhere in Douala.
The city is known for low water table which often leads to flood events during wet seasons in most neighbourhoods.
This scenario to most residents in the Madasgascar neighbourhood is better imagined than experienced.
Well-to-do families buy drinking water in containers from youths who fetch from distant neighbourhoods on two wheels truck or wheelbarrows.
The street running down beside the residence of the quarter head is often lined up with containers, waiting for the youths.
Twenty litres of the mineral is sold between FCFA 300 and 400 and 10 litres FCFA 200 or FCFA 150 depending on the distance.
Most of the neighbourhood is not connected to tap water.
Taps run dry even in other neighbourhoods.
He attributed water scarcity to global warming, galloping urbanisation and high water consumption for agricultural use, that the available water if good techniques and equipments are employed for treatment can be fit for drinking.
Two-thirds of the Cameroon population doesn’t have access to potable water, one-third in Douala has access to tap water but there is intense contamination from underground water, he noted.

The city is known for low water table which often leads to flood events during wet seasons in most neighbourhoods.
This scenario to most residents in the Madasgascar neighbourhood is better imagined than experienced.
Well-to-do families buy drinking water in containers from youths who fetch from distant neighbourhoods on two wheels truck or wheelbarrows.
The street running down beside the residence of the quarter head is often lined up with containers, waiting for the youths.
Twenty litres of the mineral is sold between FCFA 300 and 400 and 10 litres FCFA 200 or FCFA 150 depending on the distance.
She earns FCFA 30,000.
Most of the neighbourhood is not connected to tap water.
Taps run dry even in other neighbourhoods.
He attributed water scarcity to global warming, galloping urbanisation and high water consumption for agricultural use, that the available water if good techniques and equipments are employed for treatment can be fit for drinking.
Two-thirds of the Cameroon population doesn’t have access to potable water, one-third in Douala has access to tap water but there is intense contamination from underground water, he noted.

Cameroon’s cholera outbreaks vary by climate region.
Cholera follows different, distinct outbreak patterns in different climate subzones of the large country, the researchers reported in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
"The study highlights the complexity of cholera transmission, and its close link with environmental and climatic factors," said J. Glenn Morris, M.D., a professor in the College of Medicine and the director of the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogen Institute.
Cholera is a severe diarrheal disease caused by certain strains of the bacteria Vibrio cholera, which can be found free-living in the environment, often in bodies of water, or can be transmitted between people.
The data, collected between 2000 and 2012 by the Ministry of Public Health of Cameroon and the World Health Organization country office, include details on the more than 43,000 cases of cholera that occurred in Cameroon during the 13-year period.
"Cholera displays different epidemiological patterns by climate subzone," Ngwa said.
"As such, a singleintervention strategy for controlling cholera within Cameroon does not appear to be feasible.
During the 13-year span, on average, 7.9 percent of the cholera cases in Cameroon were fatal annually, and with an attack rate of 17.9 cases per 100,000 Cameroon inhabitants per year.
Moreover, each region had distinct relationships between rainfall, temperature, and cholera cases — in the Sudano-Sahalian and Guinea Equitorial subzones, increasing temperature and rainfall was found to be associated with higher rates of cholera transmission, whereas the opposite association was seen in the Tropical Humid and Equatorial Monsoon subzones.
"Government officials should enable enhanced public health surveillance and rapid response to cholera outbreaks at the health district level in order to encourage a reduction in transmission," Ngwa said.