The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with the Gombe State Government, on Friday supported internally displaced women and children sheltering in camps across the state.

Beneficiaries are among 7,000 people displaced from communities in Alkaleri Local Government Area, Bauchi State, following attacks by bandits on their villages.

The victims are currently staying in a camp located in Kashere town of Akko Local Government Area, Gombe State.

Chief of the UNICEF Bauchi Field Office, Nuzhat Rafique, said the intervention aimed to prevent disease outbreaks and improve conditions in the camp.

She expressed concern over poor sanitation and stressed the need to strengthen hygiene practices to safeguard the health of women and children.

 “UNICEF is here especially to support immunisation and health services for pregnant and lactating mothers, including deliveries at a nearby facility where services are available.

 “Today we distributed hygiene and dignity kits because sanitation is very poor here and hygiene must improve to prevent cholera and other diseases.

“We have given almost 600 dignity and WASH kits to be used judiciously to improve hygiene at the camp,” she said.

Rafique said vaccination had also begun for many children who had never previously received routine immunisation.

She explained that several zero-dose children at the camp were now being covered under the immunisation programme.

According to her, children who had never attended school were also being supported through plans to establish temporary learning facilities.

 “So we will establish a safe learning space so these children can begin learning and continue when they return to their communities,” she said.

Rafique commended the governments of Gombe and Bauchi states for supporting displaced persons.

She also praised the host community for helping to manage the camp and maintain order among residents.

Executive Secretary of the Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Abdulrahman Shuaibu, said health interventions were ongoing to support displaced families.

Shuaibu said the agency had supplied free medicines to improve access to treatment for residents at the camp.

He noted that children’s health remained a priority, with several zero-dose children already vaccinated.

According to him, two children had died in the camp while two babies had been delivered since the displaced families arrived.

Shuaibu said that about 300 children had received routine immunisation as of Thursday.

He added that 33 children previously classified as zero-dose had also been vaccinated.

The state government, he said, was working with UNICEF to provide therapeutic food for malnourished children.

Chairman of the camp committee, Umar Badiko, said the displaced families arrived on Feb. 24 after attacks on their communities.

He explained they fled from Digare, Mansur, Yelo and Gwana wards in Alkaleri Local Government Area.

Badiko said children accounted for between 3,000 and 4,000 of the camp’s 7,000 residents.

He warned that the high number of children increased the risk of disease outbreaks.

According to him, UNICEF’s intervention helped prevent serious health crises in the camp.

He said poor hygiene and widespread open defecation had earlier raised fears of disease outbreaks.

Badiko lamented the shortage of sanitation facilities at the camp.

He said only 20 toilets currently served the entire population of about 7,000 displaced persons.

He appealed for urgent construction of additional toilets to discourage open defecation and improve sanitation.

Some displaced women commended the governments of Gombe and Bauchi states, as well as UNICEF, for supporting them.

They said food supplies, medicines and medical services were being provided free at the camp.

However, some mothers with malnourished children appealed for urgent assistance to treat the condition and reverse the effects of malnutrition.

A non-governmental organization (NGO), the Gates Foundation, said it will enroll 32,000 vulnerable persons into the Kaduna State Contributory Health Scheme (KADCHMA) for one year of free healthcare services.

The scheme is expected to draw beneficiaries from across the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.

The Director-General, KADCHMA, Abubakar Hassan, disclosed this on Saturday during an enrollment planning meeting of the Health Financing Technical Working Group Committee held in Kaduna.

Hassan commended the foundation for its strong support in providing access to quality and affordable healthcare services to residents of the state, noting that the initiative would significantly contribute to reducing maternal and child mortality rates in the state.

He further stated that KADCHMA remains open to partnerships with groups, organisations, and individuals willing to support the improvement of healthcare service delivery in the state.

The D-G, therefore, urged other partners to emulate the commitment demonstrated by the Gates Foundation.

In a goodwill message, a Consultant with the Gates Foundation, Dr. Anthony Shamang, said the foundation had been in existence for more than ten years and remained committed to improving healthcare access for vulnerable populations of the country.

He added that the organisation would continue to partner with the Kaduna State Government to ensure the successful implementation of the programme.

According to him, the beneficiaries will be distributed across the 23 local government areas based on population size and poverty index, using the 2026 population data provided by the Kaduna State Bureau of Statistics.

Shamang revealed that out of the total beneficiaries, 60 per cent would be pregnant women, while 40 per cent would be children under five years of age.

He urged organisations to reach out to the needy by enrolling them into the state’s contributory health scheme.

By Laide Akinboade, Abuja

Experts in the health sector, have raised alarm over increase in link between Gender Based Violence (GBV), stigma and Antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

The experts agreed that for the health sector to address this, gender-responsive policies must be introduced in order to tackle AMR.

Antimicrobial resistance or AMR is caused by misuse and overuse of medicines in sectors of human health, livestock health, food and agriculture.

The experts spoke during the virtual March AMR Dialogue session titled “AMR under the gender lens,” organised by the Global AMR Media Alliance (GAMA) ahead of International Women’s Day and other global health observances in March.

It was agreed at the meeting that a complex mix of biological, social, cultural and economic factors arising from gender-based inequalities and injustices impact infection prevention and control. Gender inequalities, harmful gender norms, stereotypes, and tropes have normalized the neglect of well-being of girls and women, making them more vulnerable to AMR.

And cannot afford any misuse and overuse of medicines in any sector if we are to deliver on SDGs.

AMR and gender-based violence

Speaking at the meeting, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan (former Deputy Director General for Programmes and former Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization – WHO), said the experience of girls and women and gender diverse communities show how violence puts them at increased risk of getting infected with sexually transmitted infections.

Women facing an unplanned pregnancy, who go for an unsafe abortion in some cases, are also at higher risk of AMR”.

Stigma fuels AMR

 Bhakti Chavan, a survivor of extensively drug-resistant TB and a member of WHO Task Force of AMR Survivors, at the occasion said,

She therefore concluded by saying “AMR is not gender neutral. If we want to fight AMR effectively, we must listen to the women, diagnose them early on, ensure proper treatment, support adherence and design policies that consider women’s realities”.

Power dynamics at work

In her opinion Dr Esmita Charani, Associate Professor, University of Cape Town, South Africa, lamented that, “The burden of disease predominantly remains in populations that have the least access to resources, including antibiotics, to be able to treat infections effectively. The power differential between the patient, the end user and the healthcare provider is very strong and that is impacted by gender.

End drug-resistant TB if we are to end TB by 2030

Shobha Shukla, Chairperson, Global AMR Media Alliance (GAMA); and Founder Executive Director, CNS and Producer and Host of AMR Dialogues, said, “With World TB Day coming up and also as someone from India – the country with the highest TB (and drug-resistant TB) burden worldwide, I would like to draw your attention to drug resistant forms of TB. In the year 2000, the upper end estimates showed that we had around 400,000 cases of drug-resistant TB. In 2024, we also had a similar number of people with drug resistant TB. We have failed down the line to prevent drug-resistant TB as the TB bacteria continue to become resistant because of overuse, underuse or misuse of TB medicines”.

Shukla added, “We could have done better. We had the science, tools, and evidence to do so. But we could not. If we are to end TB, we have to ensure zero drug resistant TB that occurs due to failure of infection prevention and control, or misuse, overuse or underuse of TB medicines”.

She concluded that feminist response to preventing AMR is critical. Adding that it is imperative to include gender inequalities in national action plans on AMR, this would  integrate gender responsive approaches into AMR policies by addressing key gender disparities in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant infections.