Mr Onyeama acknowledged the enormous contribution by WHO over the years towards attaining the highest levels of health by all Nigerians
Since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Libya on March 25, over 3,100
people have been brought back to Libya’s shores - and not a single one
has been tested for the disease
NEW YORK, United States of America, July 10, 2020/ -- Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers intercepted at sea
and returned to Libya must be provided with COVID-19 testing to prevent
them falling through the cracks and being unable to access the care they need, the International Rescue Committee warns.
Since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Libya on March 25, over
3,100 people have been brought back to Libya’s shores - and not a single one has been tested for the disease.
Given that 28 migrants who left Libya for Italy in June tested positive
upon arrival in Sicily, the IRC is extremely concerned about this gap in the country’s COVID-19 response and is calling for testing to be
rapidly scaled-up - both at Libya’s disembarkation points and across the country - to ensure all those in need of support are able to receive
it.
“When people are brought back from sea, we’re given very limited time to support them,” said Tom Garofalo, Country Director for the IRC in Libya. “Our health and protection teams are allowed only to provide people with emergency medical care and a
few basic supplies before they are taken away either to detention
centres or released in towns and cities. Although we try to carry out
basic temperature checks, sometimes even this simple step is not
allowed. The lack of something so basic - let alone the ability to carry out proper testing - is a real cause for concern because it means there is a risk that the disease is being spread in the detention centres and in communities, and is going undetected.
“There are thousands of people being held in detention centres and the
conditions they are living in are horrific. They’re overcrowded and
often completely unsanitary. People can neither practice social
distancing there nor carry out regular handwashing. Many are in poor
health as it is so, if one person gets the disease - soon, everyone will have it.
“For those who are free to go back to their communities, the situation
isn’t much better. Very few have access to healthcare because they are
too afraid to leave their homes or are simply denied access. They live
under constant threats: of robbery, of abduction and of abuse - the very conditions that drove them to try and reach Europe in the first place.
If they become ill, many will not seek treatment and even those who do,
have very few options available to them because, at best, only six per
cent of health facilities in the country are fully functioning. To
protect as many people as possible, we urgently need to see the response scaled up - and one of the key expansions that needs to happen is
testing of those brought back from sea.”
In Libya, the National Centre for Disease Control is responsible for
COVID-19 testing but the organisation has been present to check
temperatures at only a handful of disembarkations since March. This
reveals a larger scale problem: that testing is scarce and largely
unavailable across the country, especially in the South.
The IRC is calling for an immediate end to arbitrary detention and for
those brought back from sea to receive all necessary health care, and
for referrals to be made for those who need further care or specialized
services. Additionally, testing capacity across the country must be
scaled-up and access to health and protection services for migrants,
refugees and asylum seekers must be expanded so that they can receive
the care they need - something even more vital during the pandemic.
The IRC is supporting the Libyan COVID-19 response with training of
front-line health workers and the provision of additional isolation
units. Our health staff are part of the five Rapid Response Teams the
Ministry of Health has created to carry out initial assessments of
suspected cases and tracing of their contacts. With most public health
facilities closed in Tripoli and Misrata due to a lack of capacity, our
mobile support to the Ministry of Health is proving vital in reaching
vulnerable communities in this response.
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