Turkey Backs IOM Health Aid to Chad Returnees

GENEVA, Switzerland, March 4, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Turkish NGO Gonulluler and the Fondation Baladi pour le Developpement au Tchad, supported by the Turkish Embassy in Chad, have delivered USD 10,000 of desperately needed medicines to an IOM temporary health post at a transit centre in the Chadian capital N'Djamena.

The donation will cater for the primary health needs of the 60 people a day who use the health post in the Gaoui transit centre, which has a population of some 4,000 Chadians and nationals of the Central African Republic (CAR), who have fled to Chad to escape the conflict in CAR.

The NGOs also distributed sleeping mats, rice, oil, and sugar to site residents. They also plan further food distributions in other N'Djamena sites.

IOM Chad is helping to coordinate the work of humanitarian partners in Chadian transit centres. It is also offering onward transportation for those who wish to continue their journey towards a final destination inside the country.

To date, over 80,000 returnees have come back to Chad from the CAR. Almost 56,000 of them are still taking shelter in basic transit shelters and over 25% of them are CAR nationals.

Last Saturday, IOM organized a talent show for young people at the Gaoui transit centre to help returnees to cope with the psycho-social stress associated with being forced to flee lives, homes and jobs in CAR.