Katiola program: Saving mothers and children’s life in Cote d’Ivoire

Côte d'Ivoire

The political, economic and military crises of 2002-2010 have taken a severe toll on the Ivorian health system.

The country’s health system is one of the weakest in Africa, with only one medical doctor per 10,000 inhabitants, and a lack of medical infrastructure.

Epilepsy and mental health are stigmatised and little-diagnosed in Côte d'Ivoire. MSF teams work in Gbêkê region, in the country’s centre, to improve access to mental healthcare, and diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy, at clinics.

In Abidjan, our teams screen people at the community level for both COVID-19 and for malaria, referring people to vaccination centres for the former, and providing treatment for mild cases of the latter.

MSF also works to provide consultations via telemedicine – the practice of providing medical consultations via communication technologies – to patients, to improve access to healthcare.

Our activities in 2020 in Côte d'Ivoire

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2020.

15

15

staff in 2020 (full-time equivalent)

2.6 M€

2.6M

Expenditure in 2020

1990

199

Year MSF first worked in the country
MSF in Côte d'Ivoire in 2020 MSF left Côte d’Ivoire in 2019, having handed over all activities to the health authorities. We returned in 2020 to support the national COVID-19 response.
Côte D'Ivoire Activities 2020

In Grand Bassam, to the east of the capital, Abidjan, MSF teams worked in the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 treatment centre, strengthening infection prevention and control measures and conducting mental health counselling and psychological follow-up sessions for COVID-19 patients. 

At the university hospital in Bouaké city, we constructed a temporary COVID-19 treatment ward, along with infrastructure to manage infection prevention and control, such as handwashing stations and incinerators. Our teams trained health workers and ran awareness-raising sessions on transmission prevention in the community. We also provided COVID-19 screening at the different entry points to the city. 

In Yopougon treatment centre, in Abidjan, MSF partnered with a local NGO and the Ministry of Health on a pilot telemedicine project. Two MSF teams composed of doctors, nurses and caregivers carried out consultations with COVID-19 patients to detect co-morbidities (diabetes, hypertension, respiratory failure and cardiovascular diseases), using an electronic platform to connect to specialists, such as an internal medicine doctor and a cardiologist, to confirm diagnoses. 

In addition, MSF produced 12,000 cloth masks in partnership with a local business and civil society organisations to distribute to vulnerable people in several locations, including Abidjan. Working with local associations, our teams also distributed cloth masks to patients suffering from kidney failure, diabetes and hypertension. 

 

200

2

individual mental health consultations
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MSF en Côte d'Ivoire