Socio economic and health challenges of internally-displaced persons as a result of 2012 flooding in Nigeria

Abstract

Displaced people are faced with over-crowded conditions in camps with children being the most vulnerable. This is because they are faced with myriad of challenges such as poor nutrition, breakdown of health infrastructure, disease epidemics, looting and violence. Others include unprotected sex especially when separated from their families. Displaced persons are prey to a host of diseases, most of which could be prevented. In this study the socio-economic and health impacts among internally displaced persons (IDPs) following floods in Nigeria were identified. Information on social, economic and health issues obtained from 432 household heads, nursing mothers and pregnant women from 17 IDP camps in three states was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Majority (58%) of IDPs had their occupation as farming and as a result of the flood, 299 (69.2%) people lost their means of livelihood with a concomitant decrease in income to a mean of $35.2. Victims’ nutrition was affected, resulting 63.3 % having less to eat. Though the major source of water to the IDPs before the flood was rivers/streams and wells, there was no statistical significance (p=0.99) between the major source of water to the community even when they had access to pipe-borne water after the disaster.

Keywords

• internally displaced persons (idps), socio-economic challenge, flooding, disaster