INSECURITY: One third of health facilities in N/East Nigeria destroyed— WHO

By Sola Ogundipe & Gabriel Olawale

LAGOS—At LEAST one third of more than 700 health facilities in Borno State, in north-eastern Nigeria, have been completely destroyed, while one third of the remaining facilities are not functioning at all, according to a report released yesterday by the World Health Organisation,

Vanguard, WHO Representative in Nigeria, Dr Wondi Alemu, said: “High insecurity, difficult terrain and lack of health workers, medicines, equipment and basic amenities such as safe water are making access to essential, lifesaving health care extremely difficult for people in this conflict-affected area.”

According to the report, WHO identified 743 health facilities in Borno State, of which 35 per cent are completely destroyed, another 29 per cent partially damaged and only 34 per cent intact.

About 100 temporary health facilities have been set up to support the response, of which 49 are emergency clinics for displaced people living in camps.

It was gathered that of the 481 health facilities that have not been destroyed, 31 per cent of them are not functioning, mostly as a result of lack of access due to insecurity.

Almost 60 per cent of health facilities have no access to safe water (32 per cent have no access to any water at all) and 3 out of 4 (73 per cent) facilities do not have enough chlorine stocks to decontaminate the water used in the facility.

WHO has been working with the Borno State Ministry of Health to set up a Health Resources Availability Monitoring System (known as HeRAMS.

Reacting to the development, the Deputy Director for Planning, Research and Statistics in Borno State Ministry of Health, Mr Kadai Baba Gana said:

“The information from this system is critical to inform the management of Borno State Ministry of Health and its partners on gaps that need to be addressed urgently.”

Further, Gana, who is the HeRAMS Task Team Chairman, said: “This will help us to better coordinate and monitor the response and guide the allocation of scarce resources.”

HeRAMS is a rapid online system used to monitor which health facilities, services and resources are available and accessible in emergency settings. Health workers are trained by WHO to enter key information into the system about the clinic or hospital where they work.

This information includes the kind of services the facility can provide, whether the infrastructure has essential resources like electricity and water, the skills of health workers, and the type of services, equipment and medicines available as well as support received from external partners. Information is updated regularly to help monitor improvements or new gaps in services.

Around 60 per cent of the health facilities in north-eastern Nigeria are currently being supported by one or more of the 18 health partners responding to the crisis.
“WHO’s top priority is to help save lives and prevent sickness among the estimated 6 million people who need health assistance in this crisis.”