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 healthcare, psychosocial 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.
(Source: SUN NEWS
ONLINE)
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