In more than 70 countries, Médecins Sans Frontières provides medical humanitarian assistance to save lives and ease the suffering of people in crisis situations.
We set up the MSF Access Campaign in 1999 to push for access to, and the development of, life-saving and life-prolonging medicines, diagnostic tests and vaccines for people in our programmes and beyond.
Based in Paris, CRASH conducts and directs studies and analysis of MSF actions. They participate in internal training sessions and assessment missions in the field.
Based in Geneva, UREPH (or Research Unit) aims to improve the way MSF projects are implemented in the field and to participate in critical thinking on humanitarian and medical action.
Based in Brussels, MSF Analysis intends to stimulate reflection and debate on humanitarian topics organised around the themes of migration, refugees, aid access, health policy and the environment in which aid operates.
This logistical and supply centre in Brussels provides storage of and delivers medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.
This supply and logistics centre in Bordeaux, France, provides warehousing and delivery of medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.
This logistical centre in Amsterdam purchases, tests, and stores equipment including vehicles, communications material, power supplies, water-processing facilities and nutritional supplements.
SAMU provides strategic, clinical and implementation support to various MSF projects with medical activities related to HIV and TB. This medical unit is based in Cape Town, South Africa.
BRAMU specialises in neglected tropical diseases, such as dengue and Chagas, and other infectious diseases. This medical unit is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Our medical guidelines are based on scientific data collected from MSF’s experiences, the World Health Organization (WHO), other renowned international medical institutions, and medical and scientific journals.
Evaluation Units have been established in Vienna, Stockholm, and Paris, assessing the potential and limitations of medical humanitarian action, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of our medical humanitarian work.
The Luxembourg Operational Research (LuxOR) unit coordinates field research projects and operational research training, and provides support for documentation activities and routine data collection.
Read through case studies where we openly examine and analyse all our actions and decision-making processes during humanitarian emergencies that have led us to speak out.
Providing epidemiological expertise to underpin our operations, conducting research and training to support our goal of providing medical aid in areas where people are affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or excluded from health care.
A collaborative, patients’ needs-driven, non-profit drug research and development organisation that is developing new treatments for neglected diseases, founded in 2003 by seven organisations from around the world.
The MSF Foundation aims to create a fertile arena for logistics and medical knowledge-sharing to meet the needs of MSF and the humanitarian sector as a whole.
The needs of refugees and displaced people in Diffa region continue to mount as the country strives to stem child mortality and outbreak of epidemics such as measles, meningitis and hepatitis E.
Niger continues to suffer the consequences of the ongoing conflict in the Lake Chad region.
To improve healthcare for displaced populations, host communities and the population at large - in particular children - we continue to work with the Ministry of Health and community health workers to deliver integrated health programmes throughout the country.
These focus on both the treatment and prevention of diseases, especially malnutrition and malaria, inside and outside formal health structures.
Key Activities
01Child mortality
Niger has made remarkable progress in cutting under-five mortality over the past decade, but malnutrition and malaria – the main causes of childhood death – remain rife. We run targeted paediatric programmes, support community health workers and boost the capacity of public facilities, particularly during the 'hunger gap' between harvests, which coincides with the rainy season and malaria peak.
02Community health workers
MSF supports community health workers in more than 40 villages in the Maradi region. The community health workers are especially active during the peak malaria season and ensure early detection and treatment of simple malaria and screening for malnutrition. The recent scale-up of health promotion and community-based activities in the region resulted in a 25 per cent reduction in admissions for severe complicated malaria in the health facilities we support.
03Displacement
Since 2015, the people living in Diffa continue to suffer the consequences of the violent clashes between armed opposition groups in Nigeria and the military forces in the region. Our teams provide medical and mental care for displaced people and host communities at numerous health facilities in Diffa region, on the border with Nigeria, and run mobile clinics in hard-to-reach areas.
Together with the Ministry of Health MSF provides reproductive health services in Diffa region, where our teams have set up ‘listening spaces’ to offer advice and medical assistance to women on sexual and reproductive health issues.
The spread of hepatitis E in Diffa region slowed down since MSF began detecting and treating cases in early 2017, and the subsequent declaration of an outbreak by the Ministry of Health in mid-April 2017. The number of fatalities dropped, thanks to active case-finding, quicker diagnosis, water chlorination and awareness-raising activities. Our teams helped to treat patients and set up an intensive care unit for pregnant women, for whom - and for whose unborn babies - the risks are most severe.
06Meningitis C
Niger, which is part of the ‘meningitis belt’ that stretches across sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia, is regularly affected by meningitis outbreaks. We monitor at-risk areas, help the Ministry of Health to run vaccination campaigns and help treat those affected by the disease.
0
596,800
meningitis vaccinations in response to an outbreak
0
112,300
patients treated for malaria
0
73,300
patients admitted to hospital
video
Preventing the spread of hepatitis
Niger
Responding to a Hepatitis E outbreak in Diffa Niger
November 2017
The case fatality rate of hepatitis E in Niger’s Diffa region has reduced since the declaration of the outbreak by the authorities in mid-April 2017. The disease, which shares symptoms with other more common illnesses, initially caused a high number of deaths, particularly among pregnant women. Since the beginning of the epidemic, MSF has been supporting health authorities with the treatment of patients at the mother and child health centre in Diffa town where 354 women and children were admitted from 2 January to 1 October. At community level, in several health centres, health posts and in villages, the organization, together with the Ministry of Health, supported the treatment of more than 1400 people.
Niger
“These displaced people live in fear of being attacked at any time”
Interview17 Jan 2019
Niger
Medical care for people on the move in Niamey
Project Update19 Dec 2018
Niger
Preventing future outbreaks in a cholera hotspot
Project Update17 Dec 2018
Niger
Diffa’s young minds damaged by the conflict
Project Update14 Dec 2018
Niger
Lives haunted by violence
Voices from the Field14 Dec 2018
Niger
One of the world’s biggest paediatric intensive care units is full
Press Release25 Sep 2018
Niger
The dehumanising experience of exile
Interview3 Aug 2018
Lake Chad Crisis
Fighting psychological fears in conflict-affected communities
Project Update3 Aug 2018
Niger
“We should take every opportunity to vaccinate against deadly diseases”
Interview5 Jul 2018
Reports & Analysis
Niger
Insufficient humanitarian response to crisis in Diffa
Report21 Dec 2016
1985
1985
Year MSF first worked in the country
Related topics
In Focus
Lake Chad Crisis
Armed conflict has forced over 2.3 million people to flee their homes across the Lake Chad Basin. Violence and multiple forced displacement have destroyed what ability people had to support themselves, with many dependent on humanitarian assistance.
Crisis Settings
Refugees, IDPs and people on the move
There are many reasons for flight, including war, persecution, conflict, natural disaster, destitution and repression. With health and well-being jeopardised, the lives of the most vulnerable can be at risk.
Crisis Settings
Epidemics and pandemics
Millions of people still die each year from infectious diseases that are preventable or can be treated.
Medical Activities
Measles
Last year our teams vaccinated over 1.5 million people against measles. But the highly contagious viral disease remains one of the leading killers of young children.
Medical Activities
Meningitis
Meningococcal meningitis is a highly contagious bacterial form of meningitis – a serious inflammation of the meninges – the thin lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.
Medical Activities
Hepatitis E
Hepatitis E is transmitted by ingesting water contaminated by an infected person’s faeces. Outbreaks are often documented in places with poor sanitation, like camps for refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs). Hepatitis E commonly causes only a mild short-term illness.
Crisis Settings
War and conflict
Around one-third of our humanitarian and medical assistance is for populations caught in armed conflict.
Medical Activities
Child health
Around the world, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams are working to protect the health of children.
Medical Activities
Malnutrition
More than 224 million children around the world last year suffered from malnutrition. It is the underlying contributing factor in nearly half of the deaths of children under five years of age.
