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New maternity in CAR 15

Central African Republic

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Thousands of people have been killed or wounded and millions displaced during years of bloody – but largely neglected – conflict in the Central African Republic.

Since the civil war of 2013, CAR has been marked by cycles of intensive violence. Fighting between the government and non-state armed groups, spurred by an election process, escalated in early 2021.

MSF sees the direct consequences of violence on the health of individuals and entire communities. There is a severe lack of access to healthcare; trained health workers are scarce, health services are poorly resourced and often targeted by the conflict; and patients need to travel hundreds of kilometres on dangerous roads to reach medical structures.

In CAR, we focus on treating victims and survivors of sexual violence; provide sexual and reproductive healthcare, including maternal healthcare; and provide treatment to people living with HIV.

Our activities in 2022 in Central African Republic

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2022.

MSF in Central African Republic in 2022 Despite ongoing insecurity, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) continues to run programmes focused on maternal and child health, and responding to conflict, displacement and disease outbreaks in Central African Republic (CAR).
CAR IAR map 2022

Although conflict abated in major towns controlled by government and foreign allied forces in 2022, insecurity remained high in rural areas where armed opposition groups were active. By the end of the year, nearly one million people were either internally displaced Central Africans or refugees from neighbouring countries, according to the UN.

Violence continued to affect people’s lives and restrict the delivery of humanitarian aid. MSF teams were victims of several incidents, including an attack on a convoy of vehicles on the outskirts of Kabo in January, which forced us to close the project we had been running there for 16 years.

We continued to run 12 basic and specialist healthcare projects across the country, focusing on maternal and child health, surgery, sexual violence, and treatment for HIV and tuberculosis. We implement a decentralised model of care where possible, thereby delivering services closer to patients.

We also responded to outbreaks of diseases resulting from low vaccination coverage, such as whooping cough in Baoro, and launched a vaccination campaign in Kembé to offer protection from preventable diseases, including measles, polio, yellow fever and meningitis.

In Ippy, we assisted thousands of people displaced by fighting by providing medical care and multi-antigen vaccinations, installing water and sanitation facilities, and distributing relief items.

Malaria remained the leading reason for visits to our health facilities and the main cause of death among children under five.

In line with the continuous efforts made since 2014 to reduce CAR’s maternal and child death rates in the capital, Bangui, MSF completed the construction of new maternity and neonatal wards in a hospital, and started providing emergency obstetric and neonatal care. 

 

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