"I have nowhere to go, I have nothing., Nobody wants me in my family. How am I going to deliver my baby?”, Nayah* says in a barely audible voice, tears filling her eyes.

"I did not know what to do when I arrived in Yaoundé," she adds desperately.

These were Nayah’s words during her first meeting with Dr. Seyni Houdou, the psychiatrist of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Cameroon.

Aged 34, Nayah returned from Libya in September 2019. She had left Cameroon in May 2017 hoping to travel to Europe. In Libya, she was arrested and imprisoned for five months before receiving IOM voluntary return assistance.

When she returned in Cameroon, Nayah was eight months pregnant and had never received an antenatal care. With IOM’s medical support, it was revealed that her pregnancy was at risk and she could lose her child, or even her life, if she did not receive an immediate medical assistance.

“It is clear that Nayah’s adventure has had a negative impact on her mental health,” says Dr. Seyni Houdou. “She is great psychological distress, and complained of insomnia and loss of appetite”, he adds.

Nayah lost her parents when she was very young. “I had to fight to succeed,” she says. She is unmarried and refused to discuss anything related to her pregnancy during her interviews with the psychiatrist. Before her departure to Europe, her father's house was sold by her uncles. Her younger siblings were expelled from the house and entrusted to the care of relatives.

“If I had a family that cared about me, do you think I would be lonely in this hotel without support while I'm almost due?”, Nayah asks.

On her return, Nayah found herself alone and without any family support. Her pregnancy further  deteriorated the already fragile relationship between her and her family members.

As part of her reintegration, she received medical and prenatal care. A caesarean delivery is scheduled for her. She also received support for accommodation to have a decent place to live with her future baby, as well as a baby kit and food support. Twice a week, she meets Dr. Seyni for medical assessment and psychological counselling.

Through these sessions, Nayah was able to reconnect with her younger sister who has promised to be present during the delivery of her baby.

“I'm relieved and now I just want to hold my baby in my arms," ​​she said with a shy smile. "Your moral support helped me a lot. I sleep better now and I recover my appetite,” adds Nayah.

“When returned migrants do not regain their ability to adapt to these difficult, sometimes heart-wrenching situations, the reactional psychological distress worsens and is aggravated even more and can evolve into mental disorders. Far from denying the importance of medication in therapy, a response focused on the environment, social comfort and well-being allows many people to face the adversity and stimulates in them the ability to face such a situation," says Dr. Seyni.

Since June 2017, 3,310 Cameroonians have benefited from IOM's voluntary return assistance through the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration. Upon their return, they receive psychosocial support to reduce their fragility and help them reintegrate into their communities. Of these, 593 were identified as particularly vulnerable and received psychosocial and mental health support from IOM.