Africa-Press – Ghana. World Vision Ghana, a Christian child rights organisation, has presented sanitary items, hygiene materials, and medications to asylum seekers at the Tarikom Refugee Reception and Settlement Centre in the Bawku West District.
The support, which comprised boxes of dignity kits such as sanitary pads, soap, towels, underwear, baby wrappers for pregnant women, buckets, toothpaste and toothbrushes, as well as vitamin supplements and dewormers, aimed at enhancing access to hygiene services and promoting dignified living among the vulnerable asylum seekers.
In addition to the donation, the asylum seekers were sensitised on personal hygiene practices and the use of the relief items, particularly the sanitary pads, to ensure improved reproductive health and overall well-being.
The gesture, undertaken in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Ernest Chemist, Vitamin Angels, and other partners, formed part of World Vision Ghana’s broader commitment to supporting the integration of asylum seekers into host communities while promoting social cohesion.
Presenting the items during a short ceremony at Tarikom, Mr Samuel Gmalu, Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs Manager of World Vision Ghana, said the support was to complement the cash assistance the asylum seekers received from the World Food Programme (WFP) to improve their livelihoods.
He expressed concern about the growing needs of the people and the dwindling support for them, saying, “The situation here is very dire and pathetic because the needs of the people keep growing, and access to food is becoming a challenge.
WFP has announced a cut in the cash transfers to the refugees from GH₵1,000.00 to GH₵400.00 per household due to dwindling funding, and this is going to greatly impact their lives.”
Mr Gmalu noted that the intervention would help relieve the beneficiaries of some financial burdens and enable them to use their scarce resources to provide basic necessities such as food, thereby improving household food security and nutrition.
He appealed to all stakeholders and organisations to support the refugees to ensure they lived dignified lives.
Ms Awurabena Quayeba Dadzie, Health and Nutrition Technical Manager of World Vision Ghana, said the gesture reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to responding to humanitarian crises to ensure that affected persons lived normal lives.
She explained that the support would also help ease the pressure on the common resources and social amenities shared with host communities, thereby preventing conflict and strengthening peaceful coexistence.
Ms Dadzie further noted that, through its broader project, World Vision Ghana had already provided Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) infrastructure, refurbished a health facility in the area, and delivered skills training to the beneficiaries to help improve their stay in Ghana.
On their part, the asylum seekers expressed gratitude to World Vision Ghana for the support, saying it would go a long way to improve their lives.
Currently, there are 2,224 asylum seekers at the Tarikom Refugee Reception and Settlement Centre.
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