Should Internal Displacement Mean Deprivation of Healthcare for Women and Children in Nigeria?

Nigeria accounts for a high percentage of globally displaced persons, most of whom are women and children. Health conditions of women and children in camps of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have been topical, and so much of concern is on their access to quality healthcare services in the camps. The study adopts Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) in capturing responses of 12 officials from the Kuje and Fariya IDP Camps in Abuja and Maiduguri respectively. It also adopted the use of thematic analysis in analyzing the data. Findings showed that healthcare facilities exist in these camps, despite occurrences indicating poor health conditions of the IDPs. The study concluded that health inequities persist in both camps, and that the challenges facing the available health facilities should be adequately addressed. Among the challenges were corruption, poor staffing, poor environmental conditions, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and absence of adequate and well-trained social service professionals.