Abuja- The FCT Primary Health Care Development Board, said on Saturday that 14,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in seven camps in the territory would benefit from its free medical outreach.
The Executive Secretary of the board, Dr Rilwanu Muhammad, made this known in Abuja during the inauguration of the April 2015 National Immunisation plus Days organised to mark the Africa Vaccination Week (AVW) and the World Malaria Day.
Muhammad said that the Africa Vaccination Week, with the theme: “Vaccination, a Gift of Life“, had been scheduled for between April 24 and April 30.
He said that the main goal of the event was to help in strengthening immunisation systems through advocacy, education, and outreach services.
The executive secretary said that to commemorate the week, seven of the camps located in three area councils (Abuja, Kuja, and Bwari) had been selected to have health camps for the duration of the AVW.
He said: “Arrangement to ensure the availability of the relevant services and supplies to meet the demand created for the interventions have been made.
“This is to ensure that the health care needs of this group are met.“
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
He, therefore, urged the displaced persons, especially women and children, to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the event to access medical care.
Speaking during the inauguration also, Dr Ado Muhammed, the Executive Secretary, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) said that Nigeria had not recorded any new case of the wild polio virus in the past nine months.
Muhammed, who was represented by the Advocay and Communication Officer of the agency, Dr Adamu Nuhu, however, said that it was apt to reach out to the IDPs through advocacy.
“The exercise will increase access to the underserved population hard to reach and the mobile population in the country,“ he said.
Speaking on the World Malaria Day, Muhammed said that malaria had devastated the people’s health and livelihood.
He, however, said that that the agency had made huge gains in the fight against the disease.
He said that new drugs had been made available for the treatment of the disease.
According to him, the vaccine against malaria will soon be made available.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation donated health kits containing such consumables as antibiotics in support of the planned opening of health camps in the IDPs settlements.
Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has also provided mobile clinic facilities in furtherance of activities planned for the Week. (NAN)