Two women at Agagbe Internally Displaced Persons camp in Gwer West Local Government area of Benue State have lost their children.
Also, six children in the same camp are down with measles due to the horrifying conditions of the camp.
The Camp Manager, Terna Jacob, who narrated the plight of inmates at the IDP camp on Monday told journalists that hunger and diseases had spread in the camp.
Jacob said that pregnant women in the camp have turned toilets into delivery homes.
He said, “Just a few days ago, two people lost their babies. One was premature death, the other one lost the baby while giving birth. Both incidents happened on Sunday and Monday last week.
There is hunger in the camp. Also, they (pregnant women) could not get money to go hospital so they were delivered in the camp. Even a place to give birth is also a problem here, there is a space here – a toilet built by Medecins Sans Frontieres is the one most women here use to give birth.
“If they don’t have money to go to the hospital, they use the toilet to give birth since we are currently congested in the rooms. It’s really tough.
“There is even an issue of measles that is rampant here in camp. Altogether, six children are infected with measles and have no medical attention so they are taking native herbs.
The camp manager who said that the State Emergency and Management Agency was aware of the plight of inmates at the camp noted that little had been done to alleviate their problems.
When contacted, the acting Executive Secretary of SEMA, James Iorpuu said that 200 bags of rice were sent to the camp during the last distribution of relief items to IDP camps across the state about three weeks ago.
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