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Nigeria

Northeast Nigeria Response (Borno State): Health Sector Bulletin #17, 5 February 2017

Attachments

Highlights

  • The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Mohamed Ibn Chambas, strongly condemns January 31st 2017’ deadly attack against a United Nations Technical Monitoring Team that was conducting a field mission along the border of Nigeria and Cameroon in the vicinity of Hosere Jongbi, near Kontcha, Cameroon, as part of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission (CNMC) mandate.

  • The mass measles vaccination campaign has concluded across Borno State; of total 2,915,712 children have been vaccinated out of the targeted 3,113,620 children of age group 6 months to 10 years in 25 LGAs with 94% coverage.

  • UNICEF supported the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (SPHCDA) to reopen the MCH clinic in Damasak in Mobbar LGA, Borno State, after being inaccessible for over 3 years.

  • The Borno State health authorities under the chair of SPHCDA CDC have activated the cholera preparedness working group with key MOH agencies and health and WASH sectors partners.

Situation updates

  • According to preliminary reports, on Tuesday 31st January 2017, an unknown armed group attacked the UN Team and killed five persons and injured several others. The victims were one UN independent contractor, three Nigerians nationals and one Cameroonian national that were conducting a field mission along the border of Nigeria and Cameroon in the vicinity of Hosere Jongbi, near Kontcha, Cameroon, as part of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission (CNMC) mandate.

  • People in Nigeria’s Middle Belt states contend with communal violence due mainly to resource disputes, and people in southern Nigeria have experienced increases in crime and in violence related to resurgent militancy and the claims of Biafra secessionists. Skirmishes and bombings in Nigeria’s north-eastern states (mainly Adamawa, Borno and Yobe) have had dire humanitarian consequences. Parts of the north-east have been secured, and people are returning home; such as is the case of Damasak, Mobbar LGA. However, security constraints still limit access to other areas, and most people remain displaced.

  • On 25th December 2016, Nigerian military and State Government re-opened the road from Maiduguri to Damasak to civilian traffic. The reopening was followed by refugee and IDP returns. As reported by a draft UN security risk assessment mission report visiting Damasak, on 24th January, 7,000 to 8,000 families have returned to Damasak. The sources report on average 100 families return to Damasak per day. Out of this, 70 families are refugees returning from the Republic of Niger. Whereas 30 families are IDPs returning from Maiduguri and other locations. An estimated 30% of the returnees are children. In January, ICRC and Nigerian Red Cross distributed food to 1,000 returnee families.

  • Damasak has one functioning MCH clinic just opened and supported by UNICEF. The MCH clinic is small and basic and located in the centre of town. According to the draft report, the clinic has a nurse, a nutritionist and eight health workers, but no medical doctor. Polio and measles vaccination teams use the clinic as their base. State Government health workers stay for two weeks in Damasak before they rotate. UNICEF and WHO support the ongoing polio and measles vaccination campaign in Damasak and surrounding villages.

  • The General Hospital, on the other hand, is not functioning. The hospital compound was ransacked and looted and driveway and compound are overgrown. The hospital buildings are still intact but ward interiors present a wild scene of destruction. Operating theatres are smashed, hospital beds mangled and piled up, drugs and medicine madly scattered across floors and patients’ files pulled from cupboards and thrown onto the floor.

  • Humanitarian presence is limited in Damasak. Health teams conducting polio and measles vaccinations are present. ICRC and Nigerian Red Cross have distributed food. Humanitarian organizations are advised to contact Mobbar LGA chairman to plan office setup and emergency response. However, the danger of Boko Haram in the region is real and as of the writing of this update (4th February 2017) armed attacks were and temporary displacements with possible casualties are been investigated.