Policy and practice: non‐governmental organisations and the health delivery system for displaced children in khartoum, Sudan

Abstract

The civil war in Sudan and natural disasters have led to the displacement of many people of whom 2.2 million live in and around Khartoum, half of whom are under the age of 18. These children, living in barren, remote areas, must fi nd ways to survive and meet their basic needs of food, shelter, health and education.This article focuses on the work of an international organisation working in health services for displaced people in one of the camps in Khartoum in order to argue the case for a rights-based approach to health care, for separate provision of services to adolescent mothers, for education on sexual and reproductive health for children before they become sexually active, and for sexual and reproductive health services and education for adolescent boys and men.This article concentrates on health education, in particular sexual and reproductive rights and how gender-based differences impact on the health and well-being of children. By concentrating almost exclusively on pregnant and lactating women and children under fi ve, the organisation may reduce the possibility of successful outcomes for women and may not contribute to the reduction of sexually transmitted diseases, early pregnancy and related morbidity and mortality.

The health of internally displaced children in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

“…Age-appropriate reproductive healthcare was also lacking in IDP camps, often resulting in unplanned pregnancies. Further, the lack of necessary medical services for reproductive health issues served to compound these problems, as inadequate services were available 31 ; this mirrors the issues noted above for prenatal and infant health concerns. Likewise, basic needs such as shelter were not being met in camps.…”

“…A total of 25 articles met the inclusion criteria: 16 were quantitative studies, 20-30 38-42 6 were qualitative studies [31][32][33][34][35][36] and 3 were mixed method studies. 37 43 44 Limited data on disease prevalence were available across different age groups.…”

“…However, data were compared across the coding segments to identify relevant linkages (relationships, interactions and consequences). Using the 10-point quality scale resulting from the CASP tool, 19 studies achieved a score of 9 to 10 (ie, rated as strong) [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] and six scored 7 or 8 (ie, rated as medium). [38][39][40][41][42][43] Articles had various strengths: some justified their sample size by population, minimised social desirability bias through multiple data collection strategies and reanalysed results using multiple models and strong statistical analysis, including multivariate logistic regression analysis.…”

Understanding processes of risk and protection that shape the sexual and reproductive health of young women affected by conflict: the price of protection

“…Nonetheless, despite humanitarian efforts, young people’s SRH can be neglected at the institutional level in contexts of displacement. Abdelmoneium (2010) and Wayte et al (2008) both found that a focus on safe motherhood in Sudan and Timor-Leste, respectively, resulted in other aspects of SRH being side-lined because of limited resources and services, and the prioritisation of life-saving and emergency services [ 19 , 20 ].…”

Issues in Safeguarding Refugee and Asylum‐seeking Children and Young People: Research and Practice

“…Migration is a major social issue (Castles and Miller, ), for both northern and southern countries (Abdelmoneum, ). While much UK research focuses on unaccompanied asylum‐seeking children (Crawley, ) or trafficked children (Bokhari, ), there is also interest in refugee and asylum‐seeking families(parents, children and young people) (for example, Grillo, ).…”