26-08-2024 | di COOPI

Niger. The impact of a mobile clinic for displaced persons, migrants and refugees in Niamey

In Niamey, in Health District I, COOPI - Cooperazione Internazionale has put into operation a mobile clinic providing essential primary health services to displaced persons, migrants, and refugees through the project “Strengthening state services, structures and actors to facilitate mental health inclusion” funded by COOPI Suisse. This three-year project, which started on Dec. 1, 2022, aims to strengthen national and regional planning and action strategies, ensuring that mental health and protection services are inclusive and accessible at all levels. COOPI's mobile clinic, which operates 11 Integrated Health Centers (IHCs) in Niamey Municipality I, focuses on providing primary health care, vaccines, and psychosocial support in remote areas, often populated by displaced people, refugees, and migrants, helping to improve access to health services for the most isolated and vulnerable communities, as well as to include mental health in the national health system.

Among the many lives touched by the project - 39,498 in total - are those of Aisha (fictitious name), a young migrant who found assistance during a difficult pregnancy, and Grace (fictitious name), a woman who finally received the support she needed after years of domestic violence.

Grace and COOPI's psychosocial support

For years, Grace has suffered physical and emotional violence at the hands of her husband. However, she continues to live with him due to lack of alternatives and fear of losing the economic support she needs for herself and her four children.

I was never able to report it, for fear that he would stop supporting me and my children financially”

Grace recalled.

To try to support her family, Grace had started selling fish, but after her business collapsed, the only alternative left was to survive on the help of neighbors, while her children were forced to beg.

Since we stepped in to help Grace, a smile of hope for the future has reappeared on her face,”

COOPI's mobile clinic workers admit.

Thanks to COOPI's intervention, Grace's case has been documented and classified as gender-based violence, and she has been provided with a dignity kit, consisting of washable pads, soaps and spare briefs. The support offered did not stop there: additional interviews were planned to offer Grace ongoing psychosocial support, with the goal of helping her regain her self-confidence and improve her quality of life.

A safer pregnancy for Aisha

In parallel, another beneficiary of the project is Aisha, a 27-year-old migrant who arrived in Niamey from Sierra Leone in January 2024. In a situation of extreme poverty, to be able to feed her four children, Aisha received humanitarian aid from a number of NGOs in the area, including COOPI.

Thanks to COOPI, I was able to give birth to my fourth child in a health center without worrying about my health. If I hold my baby in my arms today, it is only thanks to COOPI,”

testifies a happy Aisha, who received support during her pregnancy until delivery thanks to the mobile clinic. This support enabled her to cope with a situation that would otherwise have been untenable, ensuring essential care for both her and her newborn. Today, Aisha is grateful to COOPI because, without the mobile clinic team, she would not have been able to monitor her pregnancy, a tangible sign of the project's importance in improving access to health services for the most vulnerable people.

COOPI has been working in Niger since 2012 developing integrated multi-sector intervention programs, responding to various humanitarian crises. Today we intervene with 23 projects in the areas of nutrition, food security, emergency education, psychosocial support, mental health, protection, disaster risk reduction and disaster preparedness, and entrepreneurial development.