Maiduguri, Nigeria – Flash flooding across West and Central Africa has left more than 5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and other countries in the region. Torrential rains have disrupted access to essential services and increased the threat of diseases, including local outbreaks of cholera. The humanitarian response is hampered by extensive damage to infrastructure. Meanwhile, local humanitarian workers themselves have been affected by the disaster.
“The water reached my chest,” Fatima Ali told UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. She lives in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, where floods caused the Arau dam to burst. “We walked for two hours on flooded roads.”
Ali is a community activist who works with UNFPA to improve knowledge about sexual and reproductive health and rights and support survivors of gender-based violence. She was also nine months pregnant when the flood crisis began in late summer.
“It happened two weeks before my due date. Because I was pregnant, I couldn’t walk on my own. It was my husband who helped me move through the water,” she said. spoke.
Women and girls are disproportionately affected
Fatima Ali escaped the floods while nine months pregnant. She continues to work to support women and girls. © UNFPA Nigeria
The needs are acute in this region-wide crisis, with women and girls disproportionately affected. As primary caregivers, they face exposure to disease outbreaks, for example, and in some cases are not allowed access to medical services.
Extreme weather events have a disproportionate impact on women and girls. Vulnerability to gender-based violence is increasing, and alarming signs of this are already being observed in flood-hit countries like Cameroon, with data showing an increase in early and forced marriages and sexual harassment by intimate partners. It has been shown that there is an increased risk of violence.
With limited access to sexual and reproductive health services, pregnant women are also at increased risk of miscarriage and obstetric complications. The hunger crisis, which already affects 55 million people across the region, may also have a severe impact on pregnant and breastfeeding women, who have increased nutritional needs.
More than 1 million people in Nigeria need assistance during the current crisis, with Borno state the hardest hit, with more than 400,000 people displaced.
Ali is one of them. She and her husband had to move into temporary housing.
Still, she said: “Despite the floods, I still go to work because I want to encourage other women.”
She identifies deeply with the people she helps. “In our work at UNFPA, we prioritize maternal health above all else…and once I give birth, I will be even more passionate about helping women because I have experienced first-hand what it is like to be a mother. .”
Health, protection and psychosocial care
“It is not easy to provide support to those affected when we ourselves are affected,” said Mustafa Hussein, UNFPA Digital Literacy Facilitator. © UNFPA Nigeria
UNFPA is working with partners to respond to the needs of approximately 91,000 displaced people. To date, more than 5,500 people have been served. These include sexual and reproductive health care, such as prenatal services, safe birth care, and family planning counseling, as well as prevention and response services that address gender-based violence.
More than 14,000 displaced people received information on sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, and prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. More than 1,500 dignity kits containing essential hygiene products such as menstrual napkins, underwear and soap were distributed to flood-affected areas.
Those affected also need psychosocial support, including psychological first aid.
Mustafa Hussein, also a resident of Maiduguri, is familiar with this type of care and is usually the one who refers people to it. “As a humanitarian worker, it is not easy to provide support to those affected when you are also affected,” he said.
Mr. Hussein is UNFPA’s Digital Literacy Facilitator. “Almost all of our community was submerged in the flood.” He and his family had to walk to the concentration camp. “The 7km trek from here to the camp was not easy. And it was also terrifying.”
Psychosocial support has been helpful, he said. “Now I am recovering and getting back on my feet.”
Still, he has a long road ahead of him. “My next move is to build a house from scratch.” Still, he continues to raise awareness. “As a humanitarian worker and someone who grew up in complex emergencies, these floods did not hold me back.”
