Alarmephone Sahara laments catastrophic medical care for migrants in Agadez

Alarmephone Sahara (APS),  a cooperation project between associations, groups and individuals in the Sahel-Saharan region and Europe to defend lives and the freedom of movement, has flayed what it described as catastrophic medical care for migrants in Niger and Agadez in particular.

APS particularly expressed worried about contagious diseases that are spreading in Agadez and are not being fully treated.

It said: “The APS team in Agadez has been reporting for weeks that migrants are suffering in the commune of Agadez. International organisations are providing fewer and fewer migrants with  full medical care, so more &more people are turning to APS members for help. We are relying on a small number of individuals to help, while humanitarian organisations are intervening much less than in previous years.

Simultaneously, contagious diseases are spreading in Agadez and are not being fully treated, especially among migrants. On 24/04/24, a member of APS was called to the regional hospital in Agadez, where a Guinean woman and her child and a Sierra Leonean woman had been brought by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). After they fell ill, their house owner called MSF for help. The APS member found the 3 of them lying on a bed in hospital.

The people APS said  had already spent 3 days without anyone looking after them, either with food or medicine. “The patients were powerless to cope with the situation. Thanks to the support of the APS member, they left the hospital & obtained the prescribed medicines. All three returned from Libya and now wanted to go back to their home country, after spending almost 2 weeks in Agadez. Accompanying people who are ill or weakened is increasingly becoming a task for the APS team in Niger.”

 “On 25/04/24,” it said “another APS member accompanied a pregnant migrant woman to hospital, as she was due to give birth the same day.They left with the tricycle that the Agadez team had bought in April 2024 to take her to the clinic. Thanks to the presence of our colleague, the young woman was not alone & without hope. Unfortunately, she lost her baby on the same day.

“This case is one of many where people on the move have suffered from the difficult living conditions they face on a daily basis. The lack of medical care and the difficulties in accessing treatment all too often result in deaths that could have been avoided. Another tragedy among the migrants in Agadez occurred on 13/05/24.”

The APS added that a Nigerian couple lost one of their twins after a short illness. “In all likelihood, the one-year-old baby was probably suffering from measles (specialists will need to confirm this to be sure). It died in a medical centre in Agadez. The APS Agadez field team accompanied the bereaved couple from the evacuation to the funeral.

“Alarme Phone Sahara shows its solidarity with the migrants in their fight against the daily discrimination they face on their journey! We demand better healthcare for all people – regardless of their residency status or nation!”