Mrs Saraki Lauds Humanitarian Workers

Wife of Nigeria’s Senate President, Mrs Toyin Saraki, has showered praises on aid workers around the world.

Mrs Saraki, in her message to mark the 2016 World Humanitarian Day, said these set of people “strive to make this world a better place, even though their lives are continuously at risk, they choose to save lives.”

The former Kwara State First Lady, through her Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA), stressed that she “strongly recognises the integrity of humanitarian workers in conflict zones and difficult areas.”

She said further that, “As a health foundation, we understand the risks and challenges that are faced daily by refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP).

“WBFA has continuously offered its support and assistance to mothers and expectant mothers in the IDP camps in Northern Nigeria, through conducting MamaCare antenatal classes and distributing Mamakits.”

“Maternal and newborn health for refugees and internally displaced persons is shockingly poor and heart-breaking. WBFA believes that the solution to supporting humanitarian and aid workers to meet the maternal and newborn health challenges is by deploying more qualified midwives to camps and conflict zones internationally.

“As the Global Goodwill Ambassador to the International Confederation of Midwives, I truly believe that midwives are at the heart of all health solutions. With the increased deployment of midwives to conflict zones, refugee camps and IDP camps, expectant mothers and newborns can be given the best healthcare and services.

“Midwives can also improve sanitation levels by giving qualified advice on menstrual and pregnancy sanitation to women and girls,” she pointed out.

According to her, “Registration of refugees and internally displaced persons has shown to be a great challenge for the international community as well. WBFA’s Personal Health Record (PHR) has been distributed and deployed across Nigeria.

“The PHR can help to monitor, evaluate, track and in turn help health, humanitarian and aid workers to identify refugees, displaced and missing persons, to better support their needs.”

“Every woman and every child deserves the best treatment and care, no matter their place of birth or their life circumstance. World Humanitarian Day should be a day to celebrate the efforts of humanitarian and aid workers, but it should also be a day that we cultivate and cement support for all the refugees, displaced and missing persons across the globe,” Mrs Saraki remarked.