The World Health Organization (WHO) has disclosed that it is working with the Government to expand and improve services offered to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), especially in the north-eastern region of the country.
In a statement, the WHO revealed that one of the many consequences of the conflict and insecurity, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) report, 2016), is a surge in SGBV.
More than 6,500 women and girls were identified as survivors of SGBV. At the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Maiduguri in Borno State, for example, there is now a GBV working group which builds the skills of community health extension workers, nurses and midwives drawn from the State Ministry of Health and the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (SPHCDA). The group also offers mentoring.
Speaking on the initiative, the Borno states Commissioner for Health, Dr Salisu Kwaya Bura, said that, “The GBV initiative is timely as this is a recurring issue which affects many of our women. Borno State Government will continue to provide the needed support and create an enabling environment for these interventions to be successful.”
In addition to the GBV working group, in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, WHO plans to train Government health workers in counseling and clinical management of rape cases. The trained health workers will be able to offer post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent patients becoming infected after possible exposure to HIV, HIV testing and emergency contraceptives.
So far, in Borno State, WHO has trained 151 HTR team members to respond to the immediate physical, emotional and psychological health needs of women and girls subjected to intimate partner violence and sexual violence.
According to the WHO HTR Mobile Health Team Coordinator, Saratu Ayuba, “We believe we can leverage our existing access in hard-to-reach areas to improve and expand our coverage of basic services for GBV survivors.
“We also plan to address loopholes and better incorporate GBV indicators into service monitoring and data collection. Furthermore, WHO will engage the health sector working group to scale up coverage and quality of appropriate GBV response and prevention services for populations at risk”.
The statement added that, the WHO has also trained 75 government staff – nurses, midwives and community health extension workers – from a number of health facilities in providing first line support to GBV survivors.
In collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, a US research university, WHO is supporting the adoption of a GBV Quality Assurance Tool which offers health care providers, facilities and programme planners a straightforward way to start, strengthen or expand post-GBV health services through the use of evidence-based standards. Government health workers have also received training in QAT to improve GBV services.
WHO is supporting the rehabilitation of health facilities to improve health service delivery and access to a comprehensive range of health services.
Funding for the GBV programme was provided by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.
