C'River: Govt Seeks Stronger UN Partnership For Better Refugee Management

By Kingsley Agim 

Cross River Government has called for stronger collaboration with United Nations agencies to integrate basic health services in the management of refugees in the State.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Henry Egbe Ayuk, who made the call, recently, while speaking to a delegation of United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), who were in his office on a courtesy visit, reiterated the need for the UN to build capacity of local health facilities to deliver basic health services to both the Cameroonian refugees and host communities of Cross River State.

"Such bilateral cooperation will foster integration of refugee services into routine medical services of the State. Integration of basic health services of maternal and child health, HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria will give impetus to Cross River's pursuit of universal health coverage," the Commissioner remarked.

Dr. Ayuk thanked the UNHCR team for the giant efforts in upgrading health facilities in Ikom and Ogoja Local Government Areas and assured the team of the present administration's ongoing efforts to reposition the Central Drug Store to support UNHCR activities.

Speaking earlier, Head of the Calabar Field Office, Mr. Mohammed Nafion, congratulated Dr. Ayuk on his appointment as Commissioner for Health and assured him of collaboration to better the lives of Refugees and host communities, saying “Cross River State is quite dear to the UN Refugee Agency, because of shooting the largest number of Refugees in Nigeria, accounting for about 56% of the national refugee population in Nigeria.” 

Also speaking, UNHCR's Public Health Lead in Nigeria, Dr. Ernest Afu Ochang, further highlighted the success story of the UN Refugee Agency which is partnering with the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) in managing refugees in the State.

“Cross River State has been very benevolent to refugees and has opened its hands to receive and host refugees. In Cross River alone is hosting over 56,000 out of a total of 99,000 thousand refugees in Nigeria, and 87,000 are Cameroonian refugees, who have found solace in Nigeria amid political unrest in Cameroon," he pointed out.

Dr. Ochang also stressed on the need for government to support refugee services and basic health care for the local and host populations.