One hundred women, survivors of Vaginal Vesico Fistula have been provided with livelihood skills, in Maiduguri the Borno state Capital.
The survivors were sourced from women who had undergone the free surgical repairs undertaken by the United Nations Population Fund-UNFPA at the Maiduguri specialist hospital.
UNFPA’s Humanitarian Programme Coordinator, Christian Macaulay says the agency is committed to ensuring the needs of women in conflict situations are addressed.
The project funded by the Korean International Coorporation Agency has been ongoing in batches since 2018.
“This is just part of a big package of what UNFPA does in the northeast, in the state of Borno particularly, to ensuring that all the needs of women in the situations of crisis especially in the context of humanitarian and development nexus are fully catered for”.
Chief Executive Officer of UNFPA’s implementing partner, Royal Heritage Health Foundation, Mr Olusoji Sogunro said the women have been trained in tailoring, soap making, baking and confectionaries with start up kits and a minimum of #50,000 for each beneficiary deposited in a savings account for them.
Commissioner for Women Affairs, Zuwaira Gambo who presented the certificate to participants blamed the high number of Fistula cases to mass displacement which exposes girls to underage marriage and rape among other ills.
She thanked development partners for the outcome of the collaboration which provides maternal support, resilience building and the opportunity for Fistula survivors to be rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society.
Dauda Illiya