Maiduguri, 10 April 2017 - The World Health Organization (WHO) is  committed to providing urgently needed humanitarian health sector support towards reducing morbidity and mortality in the on-going crisis in Borno state.

Speaking  during a meeting with  Borno state Commissioner for Health, Dr Haruna Mshelia in Maiduguri, the WHO Country Representative (WR) to Nigeria, Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu,  stated that the organization will ensure the full implementation of the 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan in order to reduce morbidity and mortality arising from armed conflict across the state.

“With the requisite technical capacity in health matters, human and material resources, WHO is well positioned to support the government to coordinate other partners towards providing life-saving and life-sustaining humanitarian health assistance to internally displaced persons and host communities,” Dr Alemu stated.

He emphasized  that WHO’s top priority is to help save lives and prevent illnesses among the estimated six million people who need health assistance in the eight-year-old crisis in the northeast Nigeria. 

Responding, Dr  Mshelia, acknowledged that despite the security situation in Borno, WHO  scaled-up and strengthened disease surveillance networks across the state and provided lifesaving interventions to millions of people including those in hard-to-reach areas, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and their host communities.

Dr. Mshelia also commended WHO’s leadership role in coordinating the health sector partners adding that this has resulted in complementarity of roles, concerted approach to health issues and reduced friction.  

The Commissioner requested WHO’s technical support in building the capacity of  Borno state health work force by reviewing and expanding the curriculum of the existing schools of health in the state.

In response to the humanitarian situation in Borno state, WHO provided technical and financial support for the  vaccination of 2.6 million children against measles and 1.9 million children against polio. It also established 160 Early Warning, Alert and Response System (EWARS) reporting sites, covering around 85% of IDPs (about 1.3 million people), living in 13 local government areas (LGAs). EWARS reported a confirmed case of Lassa fever in February 2017 and more than 1500 suspected measles cases between September to December 2016. In addition to training of thousands of healthcare workers in different fields (surveillance, nutrition and service delivery), WHO has conducted initial assessment of Health Resource Availability Monitoring System (HeRAMS) in all LGAs to establish baseline indicators on the capacity of health facilities to deliver primary health care services to IDPs and host communities.

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