Posted on: Wed 12-04-2017

The Federal Government of Nigeria has reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to providing reprieve for the Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-East.

The Minister of State for Health, Dr.Osagie Ehanire gave this assurance on Tuesday in Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital at a Press Briefing on Health and Nutrition Emergency Response in Borno State (HNERIBS).

He explained that Health Sector Response is one of the strategic interventions of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, towards rebuilding the North-East, especially Borno State, which has been the epicenter of the ongoing insurgency.

He stressed that it is a critical milestone in the effort of the Federal Government to mitigate the suffering of the people and restore normalcy to the IDPs who have endured such hardship, pain, destruction, loss, dislocation and deprivation as a result of the insurgency.

Borne out of the need for the government to provide respite to the IDPs, he said that the Federal Ministry of Health and the Government of Borno Staten declared a Health and Nutrition Emergency on the 27th of June 2016 with the aim of addressing the effects of the crisis on the health of the people.

To this end, Dr.Ehanire said that the Federal Ministry of Health deployed a 20-man Rapid Response Team (RRT) to support Borno State with urgent service provision and assist the development of a roadmap to ensure coordinated and articulated response to emergency, adding that the roadmap was developed into a work plan, which was titled:’’Health and Nutrition Emergency Response Plan for Borno State’’.

He explained that the plan had been approved and funded by the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Health which is currently being implemented, stressing that the intervention is providing emergency nutrition and strengthening the health surveillance system targeting the IDPs in camps or host communities.

He said that the Federal Ministry of Health working in tandem with the Borno State Government ,recruited and commissioned ad-hoc  staff to provide health services in the state, adding that  a total of 325 ad-hoc staff have been recruited and deployed including doctors and nurses.

Also as part of Government effort to provide reprieve for the IDPs, the Minister also flagged-off a 6-Day Workshop on Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (MHPSS) organized for Health and Nutrition Emergency Response Project (HNERP) Personnel.

He explained that mental Health and Psycho-social support component of the Government intervention programme has been identified as a critical component of the Health and Nutrition Emergency Response.

He stressed that the aim of the programme was to provide psycho-social and mental health intervention to the traumatized people in the state.

In order to ensure success of the programme, he said the Federal Ministry of Health working in conjunction with the State Government and the Neuropsychiatric hospital in Maiduguri and other stakeholders have developed a detailed work plan which would be implemented to provide relieve to the Internal Displaced Persons in the State.

Earlier in the day, the Honourable Minister was at the Government House to pay a courtesy visit on the Executive Governor, Alh.Kashim Shetima who was out of town but was received by the Deputy, Usman Mamman  Durkwa.

The Deputy Governor on behalf of the Governor expressed appreciation for the kind gesture shown to the people in the State by way of donation of medical supplies and other sundry interventions which he noted had helped to cushion the effect of the psychological trauma the people have been exposed to.

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