190K IDPs to get free medical services as 23K orphans get free education

Alhaji Ahmed Satomi, the Chairman, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), disclosed this on Sunday in Maiduguri in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN).

Satomi said the gesture was aimed at catering for the education of the vulnerable children who did not have anybody to sponsor their education.

He said the orphans, who were unaccompanied children found in various Boko Haram liberated towns, would be engaged in meaningful activities that would make them forget their traumatic experience.

The SEMA official explained that the agency, in collaboration with other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) was doing everything possible to cater for the welfare of the orphaned children.

"The children are all Boko Haram victims; some of their parents were killed while some of them had fled without any traces.

"We are doing what we can through our Child Protection Centre that offers training, counseling and other psychosocial support for the children.

"The Ministry for Women Affairs is helping us a lot in this regard.

"We also have NGOs like Save the Children, UNICEF, Red Cross, UNDP and WHO which are working round the clock to provide good healthcare services and other supports,” he said.

Satomi said SEMA had separate kitchen for children where good foods were prepared and served to them.

The SEMA chairman expressed the hope that the parents of the unaccompanied children would soon be identified.

"With the recent mop-up exercise by the military and the liberation of IDPs from Cameroon, Dikwa, Gwoza and Bama, we are sure that some of the parents of these children would be identified," he said.

In another news, The Borno Primary Health Care Management Board (BPHCM) says no fewer than 190,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in 28 camps in the state had benefitted from its free medical outreach.

The Executive Secretary of the Board, Dr Sule Mene, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Maiduguri.

Mene 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.

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 IDPs.