North-Eastern Nigeria Humanitarian Response: Health Sector Bulletin – May 2024 – Nigeria

Overview of the most important events

The context is characterized by the ongoing relocation of IDPS and the repatriation of refugees from Cameroon to Borno State. In the face of a critical environment of reduced humanitarian funding, the BAY State Government is working with partners to respond to the measles and CSM outbreaks and prepare for cholera and the rainy season.

As of May 2024, the health sector has only reached 0.67 million of the target population (16%) with 8.9% funding coverage. Compared to the same period in 2023, 1.88 million people (44%) have been reached with 26.6% funding coverage. As a result, the health sector faces a funding gap of 17.7%, leaving about 1 million target people without support, including children under five, pregnant and breastfeeding women. If the lack of a needs-based budget for 2025 continues, the sector will have about 2.55 million target people without support by the end of the year. To raise more funds, the health sector, WHO, UNICEF, OCHA and partners are scaling up their efforts.

To better prepare for and respond to a potential cholera outbreak in the BAY States, a Joint Health and WASH Coordination Meeting was held with the participation of the State MOH, State WASH Departments, Health and WASH partners. The MIA outcomes included an update of the Health and WASH Coordination Framework and a joint health and WASH plan in response to the cholera outbreak in Bays State. In addition, a Joint Health Sector, Wash Sector and IPC Meeting was held to enhance the preparedness of the Rapid Response Team, update the Incident Response Plan, pre-position commodities and assess available capabilities and resources focused on cholera outbreak preparedness.

To assess the outcomes of the joint sectoral implementation during the peak lean/rainy season in Dikwa LGA, Borno State, the Nutrition, WASH, Health and Food Security sectors are developing a study protocol to assess changes before and after the joint implementation of the project. The study results will inform further multi-sectoral joint programming.