Burkina Faso

In 2020, Médecins du Monde launched a humanitarian emergency programme in Kongoussi, in north central Burkina Faso, to address the needs of the local population where health services have broken down.

Since starting this work, our teams have:
– set up mobile clinics in areas with high concentrations of displaced people to provide free primary healthcare, including gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response, mental healthcare and psychosocial support;

– strengthened the capacity of existing healthcare facilities, especially in relation to emergency healthcare, GBV and psychological conditions, as well as providing capacity-building for emergency responses (such as in the event of population displacements or epidemics);

– strengthened individual and community empowerment regarding access to health rights.

Access to screening is still limited in Burkina Faso due to lack of training and disruption of supplies.

Médecins du Monde supports the efforts of the Ministry of Health to tackle cervical cancer through screening and early treatment of precancerous lesions in women aged 25 to 55 and advocacy work aimed at the authorities.

We train healthcare staff in the Baskuy health district in Ouagadougou and provide health facilities with equipment and supplies for screening for HPV, the virus which causes cervical cancer. Médecins du Monde seeks to help women with advanced cancerous lesions to access appropriate treatment or palliative care.

Our humanitarian work in Burkina Faso is based on three innovative approaches:
– allowing women to choose how samples are taken (vaginal self-sampling or sampling by a clinician);
– screening by testing for the virus that causes cervical cancer;
– use of thermocoagulation to treat precancerous lesions (as an alternative to cryotherapy).

Médecins du Monde promotes access to sexual and reproductive healthcare for children and young people aged between 10 and 24. With the project entitled ‘RESPECT for the health rights of children and young people’, which was launched in October 2021, we are supporting the Ministry of Health, health training and local organisations within the Baskuy health district in Ouagadougou.

Supported by Médecins du Monde, these organisations and individuals are engaged in medical, community and advocacy activities to improve access to care, disseminate information about available health services and remove the institutional and legal barriers which prevent young people from fully enjoying their health-related rights.

Our work has three objectives:
– strengthening health services that are gender-appropriate, inclusive and responsible.
– fair use of sexual and reproductive health services, especially by young people.
– support for women’s and girls’ rights organisations and the health authorities to promote policies and legal frameworks around sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).