Abuja (ICRC) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in collaboration with and in support to the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), is training 20 NPS health personnel today from 13 states on medical screening for inmates.
The workshop is a part of a wider effort to create a more standardized and systematic assessment of health status of inmates using an updated standard medical screening format. The participants will become trainers for the respective prison clinics in their states and further train clinical medical staff across the country in the coming weeks.
"The hope is to ensure that prison clinics across the country have the systems in place to thoroughly assess inmates' health from the first day of detention onward—and respond accordingly to their medical needs," said Saira Gulzar, detention coordinator for the ICRC in Nigeria.
The training in Yola follows workshops in Jos, Plateau State and Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The two workshops together drew 30 public health staff from 24 Nigerian states. In Nigeria, the ICRC works to ensure the protection of the lives and dignity of people in detention. Last year, ICRC visited nearly 29,000 detainees in prisons and supported efforts to improve access where needed to food, clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.
For further information, please contact:
Aleksandra Matijevic Mosimann, ICRC Abuja, tel: +234 700 5000 4000 or +234 703 595 41 68
