Zini: World Vision Ghana (WVG) has donated relief items to the Zini Refugee Camp in the Sissala West District as part of interventions aimed at improving the health and general well-being of the refugees.
According to Ghana News Agency, the intervention was in partnership with the UNFPA, Ernest Chemist, and Vitamin Angels, aimed at enhancing the personal hygiene, general health, and nutrition of the refugees. The relief items included boxes of dignity kits (soaps, towels, sanitary pads, and underwear), oral hygiene materials, Vitamin A supplements, and dewormers, among others. Additionally, the refugees were educated on good health and personal hygiene practices.
At a brief ceremony to hand over the items, Mr. Samuel Gmalu, the Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs Manager of WVG, said the intervention was to supplement the cash transfers refugees received to support their livelihoods. He noted that the organisation identified the need to intervene during the commemoration of World Refugee Day at the camp and announced that WVG was considering additional support initiatives at the camp. These included the construction of household latrines, the provision of livelihood skills training for women, and the development of irrigation facilities to promote all-year vegetable farming for income generation and improved nutrition. Mr. Gmalu added that the organisation intended to renovate the Zini Health Centre within the next two years, which would also benefit the host community.
Madam Awurabena Quayeba Dadzie, the Health and Nutrition Technical Manager of WVG, said the intervention would help curb sanitation-related infections at the camp and its rippling effect on the host community and Ghana in general. 'It is important for World Vision Ghana to intervene in these hygiene and health issues because, if you look at their tents, the floors are bare, and so they are in a vulnerable situation where they can get infections. Once one person gets an infection, they can spread it. There is also the host community right here, and people here move into the community,' she explained. Madam Dadzie added that the Vitamin A supplement would boost children's immunity and reduce the risk of blindness, while the dewormers would prevent worm infestations and related diseases.
Mr. Abdul-Karim Adul-Salam, the Refugee Camp Manager, welcomed the gesture and said it would ease the burden on the refugees, who largely depend on monthly stipends from the World Food Programme. 'That's the money they use to buy all these items. Once it has come to them, it's a relief from the amount that the Ghana Refugee Board has been giving to them,' he stated. Mr. Yakubu Benin, a Senior Public Health Officer at the Sissala West District Health Directorate, also expressed appreciation to WVG and its partners, assuring that the items would be put to judicious use. He noted that the medications would strengthen healthcare delivery for both refugees and the wider community that patronised the Zini Health Centre.
