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.
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.
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.
The MSF Paediatric Days is an event for paediatric field staff, policy makers and academia to exchange ideas, align efforts, inspire and share frontline research to advance urgent paediatric issues of direct concern for the humanitarian field.
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.
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.
Niger is affected by violence and population displacements in its border regions that form part of the Central Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin.
To improve healthcare for displaced people, host communities and the population at large ─ in particular children ─ we work with the Ministry of Health and community health workers to deliver integrated health programmes throughout the country.
Niger has made remarkable progress in reducing 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, people living in Diffa region, in the Lake Chad Basin, suffer the consequences of the violent clashes between armed opposition groups in neighbouring Nigeria and the military forces in the region. We provide medical and mental care for displaced people and host communities at numerous health facilities in the region and run mobile clinics in hard-to-reach areas. In Agadez, in the north of Niger, we support local communities and migrants along the main migratory routes.
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 has slowed down since MSF began detecting and treating cases in early 2017, and the Ministry of Health subsequently declared an outbreak in mid-April of the same year. 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, as the risks are most severe for them and their unborn babies.
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.
In 2019
436,100
436,1
outpatient consultations
220,300
220,3
malaria cases treated
67,600
67,6
patients admitted to hospital, including 53,600 children under five
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MSF's response to COVID-19 in Niger
Niger
Our COVID-19 activities in Niger
May 2020
Niamey, the capital of Niger, is the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
MSF is supporting the Ministry of Health’s response to the new coronavirus. Audace Ntezukobagira, our emergency coordinator in the Sahel, explains how.
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic
Facing multiple challenges in responding to COVID-19 in Niger
Project Update3 Jun 2020
Niger
Working with communities during a pandemic
Interview5 May 2020
Mali
Fleeing violence in Niger, refugees in Mali remain vulnerable
Project Update9 Mar 2020
Photo Story
Niger, at the crossroads of migration
17 Dec 2019
Photo Story
Niger
Fifteen years treating malnutrition and malaria around the clock
Project Update25 Nov 2019
Niger
MSF teams forced to leave Maïné Soroa after two years
Interview9 Aug 2019
Niger
“Imagine being dumped in the desert, in the middle of nowhere, with no food or water”
Interview25 Jul 2019
Niger
Violence, humanitarian needs and fear mount in Diffa
Project Update4 Apr 2019
Niger
Over 8,000 people displaced by armed group on Mali border
Press Release1 Mar 2019
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 2.5 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
In 2019, our teams vaccinated over 1.3 million people against measles in response to outbreaks, and conducted over 2.2 million routine vaccinations. 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-quarter 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.
Up Next
Helping stem child mortality, combat epidemics and address the needs of massive displacement
