WUNRN
Kenya: Women at Camps in Kenya Need Health Services, YWCA
Analysis Finds
5
Feb 2008
World YWCA
A 19 year-old mother cares for her newly-born child at a
camp for Internally Displaced People in Mombasa, Kenya. With hospitals and
clinics closed or destroyed due to post-election violence, the young mother and
child have no access to postnatal care.
“My
house was torched, two vehicles burnt, my hardware shop was broken into and
looted,” a woman taking refuge at the YWCA of Likoni in Mombasa, Kenya shared
in a face-to-face interview, “We were robbed of everything.” The World YWCA in
partnership with Kenya YWCA and Kenya Red Cross Society recently carried out a
Rapid Needs Assessment in camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in
Kenya, including a camp at the YWCA of Likoni. The purpose of the analysis was
to identify the immediate needs of women and girls.
A significant number of women at the camps have young children under five, the report reveals, yet services for both mother and child are lacking. Health services in the region are mainly privately owned and have since been looted, burnt or destroyed in the violence ensuing the announcement of disputed election results on December 30, 2007.
The Kenya Ministry of Health, through the Coast Provincial General Hospital, provides mobile clinics to visit the camps in Mombasa, but can only provide treatment for minor ailments. Prenatal and postnatal care is not available. Moreover, two women have given birth since arriving at the camps. “I have a daughter here she is, with a one-day-old baby with no antenatal services,” a woman laments.
The World YWCA recommends that provision of health services be prioritised particularly maternal and infant care; sexual and reductive health services; and HIV prevention and care.
In addition to health services, women responding to the RNA shared their desires to begin rebuilding their lives. Majority of the women responding to the RNA at the camps are businesswomen and heads of households. Their goods and shops have been destroyed leaving them destitute. From hawkers to chemists, food vendors to hair dressers – the women owned diverse types of business and some need only Ksh 3,000 to restart their business.
The report therefore recommends that humanitarian assistant in Kenya include financial, material and technical assistance to help businesswomen rebuild their livelihood.
The World YWCA, in close collaboration with Kenya YWCA and partners, will continue to respond to the situation in Kenya by ensuring women’s needs are catered for, women are included in any mediation efforts and community peace is built by promotion mutual respect and tolerance.
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