Primary Health Care Services Six IRC health centers provide primary health care to refugees and the host population. Physicians' assistants, mid-wives, vaccinators, and primary health care personnel run the village clinics, while IRC's ambulance is available for emergency evacuations to the hospital in Tabou. Community health agents are trained and continue working in their communities to spread messages regarding primary health care priorities. There are 19,759 persons who directly benefit from these services.
Emergency Obstetrics Care The IRC is assisting the Ministry of Health in a three year-long training of mid-wives and doctors in 22 health posts in the health districts of Yamoussoukro, Bouafle, Daola, and Duekoue, designed to reduce maternal mortality rates and increase general knowledge in obstetrics, pre- and post-natal care, and provide reference material and knowledge to government health workers. There are 1,485,000 indirect beneficiaries.
Emergency Education and Child Protection The IRC is rehabilitating education structures and providing non-formal education forums with educators organizing recreational activities, French literacy classes, and cultural activities in 16 border villages and in the Tabou transit center. Child protection committees have been established to monitor attendance and retention in schools, identify at-risk children, respond to child protection issues, conduct trainings on the rights of children, and register separated children. IRC is now expanding its child protection activities in the 40 villages around Man and 20 villages around Danana, all located in the western part of Cote d’Ivoire. The number of direct beneficiaries of educational activities is 3,384 and 334 children are direct receiving child protection assistance.
Environmental Health The IRC is rehabilitating and building new water wells and family latrines. A hygiene promotion team surveyed the villages and travels to all village trainings, with messages of good hygiene practices. An emergency water supply program serves villagers in a severely war-impacted zone. IRC cleans, rehabilitates, and repairs wells and manual pumps, as well as constructs and rehabilitates latrines for health posts and schools. Local water committees have been developed to conduct trainings on well protection, latrine construction, and hygiene promotion. IRC environmental health projects are located in the district of Tabou in the region of Bas Sassandra and in the region of 18 Mountains.
Gender-Based Violence Prevention The IRC set up drop-in centers for survivors of gender-based violence and is conducting awareness campaigns in 15 villages and in the Tabou transit center. The program offers survivors counseling, medical assistance, psychosocial support; and incorporates government and health workers in awareness-raising campaigns to reduce incidents and respond to those persons affected by the conflict. A similar program has been started recently in collaboration with current health programming, in the zone that separates the northern-held rebel territory and the government-held south.
Program Strategy
As the political conflict in Cote d’Ivoire continues, the absence of law enforcement exacerbates the problem of protection for the average citizen. This is particularly problematic in the West, where criminals carry out human rights violations with impunity. Although protection is the first concern, health, education, water and sanitation, and other needs have been aggravated by a lack of services. The purpose of IRC’s presence is to address such needs. And by doing so, IRC hopes to improve the protection of those most in need.
