Skip to main content
Humans of Assamaka

Niger

War in Gaza:: find out how we're responding
Learn more
Niger is affected by violence and displacement around its border regions, which are part of the central Sahel and the Lake Chad basin.

Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali share a border region in the central Sahel where state and non-state groups operate against a backdrop of high levels of poverty, climate change, rapid population growth, and increased competition for dwindling resources. 

Southeastern Niger is part of the Lake Chad Basin, where violence that began in Nigeria in 2009 spread. The region was already extremely vulnerable due to social inequalities, poverty, poor infrastructure and recurrent droughts. MSF runs health programmes throughout Niger. 
 

Key Activities

Treatment of malnutrition - English
video
Niger

Treating severely malnourished children in Madarounfa

July 2021

Every year from July to October, the combination of the hunger gap and rainy season triggers a spike in the number of children suffering from acute malnutrition and malaria in southern Niger. Follow our teams through our hospital in Madarounfa where we treat severely malnourished children with emergency care.

Our activities in 2022 in Niger

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2022.

MSF in Niger in 2022 Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs a range of projects in Niger to address the significant medical needs caused by conflicts, displacement, food insecurity, child malnutrition and epidemics.
Niger IAR map 2022

In 2022, our teams carried out mass vaccination campaigns, distributed drinking water and relief items, such as hygiene and cooking kits, constructed shelters, and ran mobile clinics for displaced people in Diffa and Tillabéri regions.

In the second half of the year, Niger was hit by devastating floods, which affected hundreds of thousands of people. As well as running mobile clinics and distributing relief items to displaced people, we helped boost bed capacity in Niamey regional hospital.

We also supported the health authorities’ responses to outbreaks of measles and meningitis in Zinder, Diffa and Tahoua regions. During the peak malaria period, due to the exceptionally high number of patients requiring inpatient care in Magaria, we constructed two observation rooms in Tinkim and Yékoua health centres.

In Madarounfa district, we provide care for children with sickle cell disease, which includes vaccinations, antibiotics to prevent and treat infections, pain medications and blood transfusions. In 2022, to better prevent and manage severe complications of the disease, we introduced treatment with hydroxyurea, a drug listed by the World Health Organization as essential for haemoglobin diseases in children but still difficult to access in Niger.

In addition, we offered medical and nutrition care to children with malnutrition, malaria and other childhood diseases in Madarounfa hospital and five health areas in Maradi. As a result of our partnership with the health authorities and the World Food Programme, dedicated to treating children with moderate acute malnutrition, the number of hospital admissions for malnutrition was the lowest in four years.

The two-way flow of migrants over the Niger-Algeria border continued unabated in 2022. Thousands were deported by the Algerian authorities and stranded in the desert. MSF denounced the inhumane treatment of migrants expelled from Algeria and Libya, and called on authorities to take immediate measures to respect human dignity in border control.

 

In 2022
 
Rescue - Rotation 51
Refugees, IDPs and people on the move

EU policies promote violence by denying safety and protection to refugees and migrants

Press Release 21 Feb 2024
 
Diphtheria, Kano project
Vaccination

Dramatic upscaling of vaccination needed in West Africa to curb deadly diphtheria outbreaks

Press Release 21 Nov 2023
 
Magaria hospital, Niger
Niger

Three things to know about the humanitarian situation in Niger

Interview 11 Sep 2023
 
MSF denounces the severe lack of shelter and support for migrants abandoned in Assamaka
Niger

MSF condemns appalling conditions for migrants abandoned in Assamaka

Press Release 16 Mar 2023
 
DISTRICT HOSPITAL OF MADAROUNFA, NIGER
Niger

Airstrike kills 12 people including children in south Niger

Press Release 21 Feb 2022
 
Niger - Magaria Paediatric Unit
Niger

Working with the community to counter malaria and malnutrition

Project Update 3 Feb 2022

find us online

Up Next
17 December 2018