Boko Haram: 1,500 women give birth in displaced persons’ camps

Boko Haram: 1,500 women give birth in displaced persons’ camps

No fewer than 1,500 women gave birth in 28 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Borno in 2015, the State Primary Health Care Management Board said on Sunday in Maiduguri.

The Executive Secretary of the Board, Sule Mene, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the deliveries were recorded between January 2015 and January 2016.

The women are part of the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria. About 20,000 people have also been killed.

Mr. Mene said about 14,600 pregnant women received anti-natal health care, psycho-social services and child nutrition support.

He said that the agency had also received about 1,200 severe medical cases, which were referred to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) for proper care.

The official said the agency had established 20 Integrated Primary Health Care Centres for IDPs in all the camps to provide healthcare and referral services.

“The Borno Government has procured health kits for each of the IDPs to help cater for their immediate needs.

“We have equally distributed mosquito nets to each and every one of them,” he said.

According to him, the agency, in collaboration with Federal Road Safety Commission, had trained its drivers to ensure prompt response to expectant mothers to access health facilities.

Mr. Mene also said no fewer than 190,000 IDPs in 28 camps in the state had benefitted from its free medical outreach.

He said that 10,800 children aged zero to five were enrolled for management of varying degrees of malnutrition, while about 121,000 were given various immunisation antigen.

He explained that the agency had inaugurated about 240 Integrated Primary Health Care Teams (IPHCT) that would ensure availability of the relevant services to meet the demands of IDPs in camps.

According to him, 14 health officials posted in each of the camps would provide health care services like routine immunisation against preventable diseases for children aged zero to 11 months.

He said that the gesture was to enhance healthy growth of the children in the area of nutrition as well as malaria and tuberculosis prevention.

Mr. Mene listed other services enjoyed by the IDPs to include anti-natal health care to pregnant women, psycho-social services as well as child nutrition support for mothers.

He said the board, through its Community Management of Malnutrition Team (CMMT), had ensured frequent provision of clean and potable water in the camps.

According to him, the team was set up by the agency’s department of disease and control.

The executive secretary mentioned some of the challenges faced by the agency to include increasing number of IDPs coming to the camps on a daily basis from the liberated towns.

He regretted that the camps were over-stretched, but that the agency was working with partners like NEMA, WHO, UNDP, Doctors without Borders and UNICEF, among others, to provide conducive, healthy and hygienic environment for the displaced persons.

(NAN)