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Opening the door to young "key populations"

In November 2023, the photographer Nora Nussbaumer spent a week embedded in MSF's project providing medical assistance to adolescents and youth, including key and vulnerable populations in and around the city of Mombasa, in Kenya’s coast.

When a team from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) working in the Kenyan city of Mombasa discovered that there were significant gaps in healthcare for adolescents and young people, they decided to do something about it.

The assessment they conducted in May 2021 revealed that many of the adolescents and youth, aged 10 to 24 years old, had specific medical needs and were struggling to get basic healthcare.

Several young people MSF teams met had experienced teenage pregnancies, unsafe abortions and sexual and gender-based violence, yet they had not received appropriate counseling or treatment.

Together with the Mombasa County Department of Health and several community-based organizations, MSF launched its project in 2021. It included the opening of Adolescent and Youth (AYP) Friendly Services and regular outreach activities to breach the barriers to health.

The aim was to launch a peer-led project that would make it easier for young people, including young key populations, who found themselves marginalized or excluded from healthcare, to get the advice and healthcare they need.

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