Niger: Health Centre Maine Soroa, Diffa

IOM 2023 / Aïssatou Sy

Since 2022, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has collaborated with Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI) to bring community-based medical care, particularly addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV), to those fleeing violence by armed groups in the remote communes of the Diffa region in Niger. This includes the village of Toudou Wada, situated in the Mainé Soroa commune, where the mobile clinic operates six days a week. The camp is made up of around 3,100 people, including both Nigeriens and a few Nigerian refugees across 517 households that had to escape the violence at the border with Nigeria during the Lake Chad Basin crisis in 2015. The deployment of mobile clinics alleviates the strain on state health-care facilities, burdened by the influx of people seeking refuge. Operational in the commune of Mainé Soroa since April 2022, the mobile clinic significantly supports the district hospital and the urban integrated health centre, offering medication donations, joint supervision missions, logistical support, and deploying mobile clinics in remote areas.