Mobile clinics provide essential health services for displaced people in Mali
Mali | 2024 | Regional Fund
Mali, Angsongo. Tagalif lives at the Cap d’Angsongo displacement site along with about 600 other people. After an attack by armed groups, he and his neighbours were forced to leave their village. “We have lost everything since we left Tabango,” he explains.
Prolonged conflict and recurrent climate shocks in Mali are worsening the humanitarian crises, which have already displaced hundreds of thousands of people within the country.
The Ansongo district, located in Mali’s Gao region, is facing a continuously deteriorating humanitarian and security situation. For over 10 years, insecurity has been a major concern in this region, which borders Niger and Burkina Faso, because of active armed groups.
This situation forces many families to flee their villages, seeking refuge in displacement sites on the outskirts of Ansongo. In these places, living conditions are precarious. Access to healthcare is limited, and diseases such as malnutrition, respiratory infections and waterborne illnesses are widespread.
Since December 2023, Première Urgence Internationale has been intervening to help address people’s urgent needs for health and psychosocial support, thanks to the support of the Regional Humanitarian Fund for West and Central Africa.
PUI has deployed a mobile clinic that provides medical and nutritional assistance. The mobile clinic consists of a doctor, a midwife, a nurse and a community mobilizer, who offer consultations, care and free medications to all patients. Tagalif and his wife fell ill after arriving in Ansongo, but thanks to the mobile clinic, they received the care they needed and recovered.
“When the Première Urgence mobile clinic arrived at the site, we went to see the doctor who gave us prescriptions. He then directed us to the nurse, who gave us the medications for free.”
The clinics also include mental health support services. “The clinic’s team takes care of all the people living at this site, whether they are men, women, or children,” adds Tagalif.
Adapted from an original story from PUI.
More information on the Regional Humanitarian Fund.