Tunisia

Activities 

In 2016, MSF continued to provide medical and humanitarian assistance to thousands of migrants stranded close to the Libyan border or rescued from the Mediterranean Sea.

MSF has been offering primary healthcare and mental health support through its facility in Zarzis, a coastal town in southeast Tunisia, since 2012. In response to increased health needs, medical activities were expanded to cover migrants and vulnerable communities in Sfax, a large city 280 kilometres north of Zarzis. A team also continued to provide medical assistance to the people remaining in Choucha camp, near the Libyan border. During 2016, MSF clinics conducted 384 medical consultations and treated 226 new patients who were mainly from sub-Saharan Africa but also included Syrians, Libyans and Tunisians. MSF supported local efforts to deal with the level of death and suffering at sea by providing search and rescue (SAR) and dead body management (DBM) training to Tunisian and Libyan fishermen, coastguards, Tunisian civil protection and customs, and the Libyan Red Crescent. MSF conducted two rounds of training in March and June – the peak months in the migration season – which were attended by more than 230 people, and donated medical supplies and 9,826 pieces of personal protection and rescue equipment to the trainees.  In addition, MSF donated emergency kits to three hospitals, consisting of enough drugs and medical supplies for an influx of 50 wounded patients.

Read about MSF’s activities in other countries in 2016

Year MSF first worked in the country: 2000.