GSK Nigeria Plc shows support for IDPs

… donate Horlicks and Colart

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc recently donated 14,802 units of Horlicks (nutritional health drink), and Colart (anti-malarial) to Borno State Government for distribution to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) taking refuge in camps and host communities in the State.

The company in its statement during the visit said that the donation is a demonstration of its commitment to an improved wellbeing amongst the displaced individuals and also to address the issue of malnutrition among children living in the camps.

While presenting the items in Maiduguri, the Communication & Engagement Manager, Bolaji Sanyaolu, said that the food and health humanitarian interventions was to contribute to efforts to improve the wellbeing of displaced persons in camps and the communities. She noted that the product would help mitigate some of the nutritional and health challenges being faced by the IDPs.

In her words, “at GSK, our mission is to improve the quality of human life and there is no better way to showcase this than to lend a helping hand with partners like the UN-OCHA. From the reports and data provided, there are millions of people have been affected by the insurgency in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and Gombe. Many of these have been displaced and a large number are children.   We believe that these products, worth about N5 million, would help ameliorate some of the hardship in this area.

Humanitarian Affairs Officer of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA), Dr. Thomas Bollinger, urged the displaced persons to put the donated GSK products into good purpose. He said that other corporate organisations in the country should emulate the humanitarian assistance of GSK; to complement UN-OCHA’s humanitarian assistance to displaced persons in Borno and the North-East.

While receiving the donations at the Borno Central Medical Stores, the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Haruna Mshelia thanked the company for the food and health products, stating that they were ideal and timely, considering the prevalence of malaria and malnutrition in the camps and the communities.

He assured the company that the products will be distributed to hospitals and Primary Health Care Centers free of charge. He stated that they are taking this approach because many organisations and donors are unaware that 85 per cent of the IDPs actually live in host communities, while the remaining displaced persons take refuge in the camps so there is a need to also reach out to those living outside the camps.