By Moses Nyirenda

Lilongwe, August 17, Mana: International Organization for Migration (IOM) Malawi Chief of Mission, Nomagugu Ncube says her organization remains committed to advancing mobile health security in the country.

This follows a recent release of the findings of population mobility mapping which IOM conducted in the country's three districts of Mangochi, Salima and Nkhata-bay.

The mapping results revealed an increased rate of disease transmission such as Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STIs) due to increased number of people who migrate to the lakeshore districts during fishing season.

Speaking on the sidelines of the breakfast meeting which IOM organized on Friday in Lilongwe to discuss issues of migration health with its stakeholders, Ncube said with the results of the survey, her organization is committed to advancing mobile health security in the country.

“IOM is an intergovernmental organization and Malawi is one of the countries where we are working and supporting government on issues of migration health.

“Therefore our commitment still persists and we remain committed to advancing Malawi's agenda on mobile health security,” Ncube said.

She added that, IOM will continue working with government and its other stakeholders to mainstream and integrate migration and migrants in national health programming.

She also said her organization is eager to ensuring that health services in the country are migrants responsive and are able to address their needs.

Ncube also said as IOM they want also to help in creating a demand for health services amongst the migrants through raising awareness on their rights and how they can access services and utilize them appropriately.

According to her, their mission as an organization is to create a welcoming environment for migrants on issues of health while advancing mobility health security in the country.

“We are looking at strengthening or creating an enabling environment for migrants to be able to access services including capacity building among the migrants on how they would access the health services.

“We are also looking at engaging local stakeholders to be able to reach out to the migrants to deal with issues of stigma and exclusion of migrants from services,” she said.

Ministry of Health Deputy Director responsible for reproductive health, Hans Katengeza applauded IOM for its commitment to promote migration health security in the country, saying that the gesture is complementing government's efforts aimed at addressing health issues in the country.