The Vice Chancellor of University of Medical Sciences, Ondo State, Prof Adesegun Fatusi, has advocated for the empowering of healthcare workers who are at the centre of providing services for Gender Based Violence (GBV) survivors.
He also called for the integration of Gender Based Violence into the curriculum of medical, nursing schools, and all other health training schools.
The curriculum should be include wide range of issues concerning GBV and survivor clinical practices.
He made the call at a session sponsored by the European Union (EU) at the 37th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria (APHPN), in Abuja, yesterday.
“We must, as a matter of priority, prioritise nationally and categorise GBV workers as essential workers and they must always have access to be able to provide services for the people.
“Health workers are at the centre of providing services.
We need to look at systematically increasing the capacity of healthcare workers on GBV cases and integrating into the curriculum of our medical schools, nursing schools, and all our health training schools, concerning the whole issue about GBV and survivor clinical practices.
“We must intensify demand creation. Many of the women who have experienced violence in Nigeria never have access to such services.
“We must think about sustainable financing and ensuring budget releases, implementation and put in place accountability mechanisms,” he said.
On her part, the Country Representative of the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), Ms Elisabeth Mueller, lamented that an estimated 80 million women in Nigeria are exposed to GBV.
Represented by the Deputy Country Representative, Erika Goldson, Ms Mueller noted that: “The year 2020 was the year Nigeria experienced two pandemics – COVID-19 and the pandemic of GBV.
“It is estimated that 80 million women are exposed to gender-based violence in Nigeria.
“Meeting the needs of survivors of gender-based violence enables us to fulfill the SDG principle of leaving no one behind.
“The UNFIPA has the mandate to rally medical professionals to end violence against women and girls, and support the abandonment of harmful practices, while amplifying positive social norms to create movements.”
Speaking, the Head of Delegation, European Union, Amb. Ketil Karlsen, revealed that reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health care services have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Represented by Alexandra Gomez, Amb. Karlsen said: “Reproductive, maternal, newborn, and adolescent health care have all been affected by the pandemic, and as a result, there is an increased number of unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and in general, it has put the whole population at a greater risk because the resources were not just there to be given the attention that would have been otherwise.
“In parallel, we have seen a tremendous increase in domestic violence across the globe and not just only in Nigeria.
“This is both due to the lock down, the proximity, and the fact that people have had to occupy a small space.
“Also the fact that in many countries the pandemic brought economic hardship. This has caused a lot of tension among households that have led to domestic violence.
“We launched the ‘orange the world campaign,’ which is a global campaign to shine the spotlight on the problem and keep it as far as possible on top of every single country’s political agenda, and certainly here in Nigeria.”
