Organisation offers free HIV services to IDPs

A Non-Governmental Organisation, FHI 360, has adapted strategies to providing free healthcare services to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-east. Th e FHI 360, USAIDfunded Strengthening Integrated Delivery of HIV/AIDs Services (SIDHAS) project, had set up mobile clinics, out fi tted with medication, diagnostic equipment and other supplies, that circulate among IDP camps.

Th e organisation which disclosed this in a statement made available to Blueprint, said the mobile clinics have so far screened more than 22,350 people for HIV, including 15,246 pregnant women. FHI 360’s SIDHAS project is also providing antiretroviral treatment to 562 people with HIV, as without the intervention, the people in these camps would have very minimal health care.

“Organisation’s staff have remained in the North-east, working in Borno since 2011, even as the confl ict intensifi ed, to provide other types of direct services that include delivering on critical needs for water, sanitation and hygiene; primary health care; and protection for survivors of gender-basedviolence.” Recently, FHI 360 and over 150 key international development partners, donors, Nigerian government stakeholders and key civil society members participated in a landmark conference with the theme: “Building Resilient Communities in Changing Times.”

Th e event was focused around dialogues and visual presentations on how the development and humanitarian communities can support Nigeria on its path towards building greater resilience. Th e keynote speaker at the event and Chief Humanitarian Coordinator, Dr. Ayoade Olatunbosun-Alakija, called for programs that look beyond the short-term solutions by straddling the humanitariandevelopment nexus to build resilient communities.

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