Every year, the ‘hunger gap’ and rainy season trigger a spike of malnutrition and malaria in Niger – particularly from July/August to October/November, in the southern part of the country.
Since the large-scale food crisis of 2005, the prevention and treatment of childhood diseases has remarkably advanced: from ready-to-use therapeutic meals to more decentralised, comprehensive and patient-centred approaches both in existing medical structures and at the community level. Hundreds of thousands of children continue to be affected by this chronic emergency, though, and need timely, free-of-charge and good quality healthcare especially during the seasonal peak.
In the region of Zinder, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) supports the Ministry of Public Health in the District Hospital of Magaria, in the health centres of the same town, Dan Tchiao, Tinkim, S/Broum, Bande, Yekoua and Toube, as well as through the integrated Community Case Management of childhood diseases (iCCM).