The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has disclosed that there are 3,600 communities in Niger State which lack basic health facilities and social amenities.
 
Tagging those communities hard-to-reach, UNICEF has said that although the international donor partner seeks to provide health services to all the communities, it has only been able to reach out to 850 communities in 17 local government areas of the state.
 
The Niger State Coordinator of the UNICEF Hard to Reach Communities, Dr. Mohammed Khalid disclosed to journalists at a sensitisation meeting in Minna, the state capital, that the nearest health centre is about 5km to these communities and the people would have to travel through hard and difficult terrains which discourages them from seeking health services.
 
He expressed concern that the children in these areas are most vulnerable to diseases especially as some have become disfigured by some diseases which were not treated. Some other children are being rejected by the members of the communities because of some diseases which could have been cured if there was access to healthcare.
 
“So many of these hard-to-reach communities are so far away from civilisation that they do not have electricity or even mobile networks. They have been abandoned, they are socially secluded and do not even know what they are missing because they have been left behind.”
 
Khalid said that the UNICEF Hard-to-reach project seeks to bring the plight of the communities to the attention of the government in order for an increase in health allocation to carter for the health needs of the people living in the areas.
 
According to him, under the hard-to-reach project,108,575 under-five children have been vaccinated and immunised, 314,604 Oral Polio Vaccines (OPV) doses were administered to the children 3,050 mobile sessions.
 
Read more at http://thenationonlineng.net/3600-communities-lack-health-facilities-niger/