UNFPA, USAID Want Safe Delivery Of Insurgents’ Pregnant Survivors

The United Nation Popu
lation Fund (UNFPA) in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have called for private sector support in ensuring that pregnant survivors of insurgency have safe and healthy deliveries.
Ms Ratidzai Ndhlovu, UNFPA Country Representative in Nigeria, made the appeal Monday, at the ‘Handing Over Ceremony of 400 Birth Kits to Displaced Persons in Borno State’ by Lagos-based Deluxe Childbirth Services.
The Deluxe Childbirth Services (DSC), a medical services firm, as part of its corporate social responsibility programme, donated the kits to the UNFPA to support pregnant women in Internally Displaced Persons settlements in Boko Haram-affected communities in Borno.
Journalists report that USAID facilitated the transfer of the birth kits and identified the UNFPA as the partner organisation to receive the kits.
Two other USAID projects also played a role in the handover; they are the Expanded Social Marketing Project in Nigeria which transported the birth kits free of charge to Kaduna and the Targeted States High Impact Project which provided 400 doses of Chlorhexidine, an antibiotic gel that prevents cord infection in newborns that would accompany the birth kits.
Ndhlovu said that the plea became necessary after the signing of the USAID grant in June and in the wake of more insurgency attacks in the North East region.
“She said the UNFPA has been advocating for stronger partnerships and synergies including  the private sector in order to accelerate and improve humanitarian response in the region.
“Deluxe Childbirth Services, as part of her CSR responded quickly, to compliment UNFPA’s efforts to support child birth in emergencies.
“The event is coming just at the right time as UNFPA takes global leadership to commemorate this year’s World Population Day (WPD) of which the theme is ‘ Vulnerable Populations in Emergencies.’
“The particular focus is on women and adolescent girls.’’
She said: “As we commemorate the WPD here in Nigeria, the UNFPA is ready to redouble its efforts not only to ensure that pregnant survivors of insurgency have a safe, healthy and uninterrupted nine months journey to delivery.