2017 in Pictures

Putting the Patient First

By ALIMA

December 22^nd, 2017

Conflict. Displacement. Malnutrition. Disesase outbreaks. These are just a few of the crises that ALIMA and its partners responded to in 2017.

This year, thanks to your support, ALIMA has saved lives, provided medical care to the most vulnerable, and worked hand-in-hand with national medical partners and built up local capacity.

Our teams provided life-saving care to 1 million people across 10 African countries this year, as well conducted numerous research projects that aim to improve humanitarian medicine.

To help share stories from the field, ALIMA collaborated with photographers throughout West and Central Africa to capture images from some of the most difficult-to-reach places. The following pictures reflect not only the needs of vulnerable populations, but also their incredible strength, and the frontline workers who risk their lives each day to care for patients.

BURKINA FASO

At the inpatient therapeutic feeding center in the Yako health district, 4-year-old Mahamado and his 6 month old sister Mariam are treated for severe acute malnutrition with complications. Their mother, Sarata, says that because of poor harvests, it is difficult to find enough food. Malnutrition rates among children under the age of 5 continue to remain at critical levels in 8 of Burkina Faso’s 13 regions.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

A group of midwives and nurses at the Boda health clinic. With the health system barely functioning due to a severe shortage of skilled workers and medical supplies, up to 58% of health infrastructures are supported by humanitarian actors. ALIMA is running a much-needed maternal healthcare program.

CHAD

Between May and August 2017, in N'Djaména, the Chad-China Friendship Hospital, supported by ALIMA and its national partner Alerte Santé, faced an influx of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. "Our teams used every available space to install beds. Lobbies have become inpatient rooms and mattresses are strewn in corridors.”

Chad | A doctor working on the research project, DiDiMAS, using a molecular biology technology known as BioFire to study the infectious causes of diarrhea in severely malnourished children with complications at the China-Chad Friendship Hospital in N’Djamena.

CAMEROON

August 2017, in Mokolo, Cameroon's Far North Region. Mothers and families learn to detect malnutrition with the MUAC tape. When they leave the Mokolo Hospital, they will each have one of these graduated tapes in their hands. Color-coded MUAC (Mid-Upper Arm Circumference) tapes are easy to use and easy to explain, which is why community health workers have been trained to use them for decades. So why not go one step further and teach all mothers how to use MUAC tape?

DRC

In May 2017, an outbreak of Ebola struck the Bas-Uélé province. While it is relatively easy to airlift supplies to Kisangani, a major city in the northeast along the Congo River, and then travel by road to the town of Buta, the capital of Bas-Uélé province, things become complicated between Buta and Likati, the affected health zone.

DRC | June 2017. Patients are treated at a makeshift health center in Muma, in the DRC’s Bas-Uélé province, during the peak of the malaria season.

DRC | A mother reacts after her 15-month-old baby passes away, as an outbreak of malaria hits Muma village, in the DRC’s Bas-Uélé province.

GUINEA

The Ebola virus went on to infect more than 28,000 people across West Africa. In Guinea, more than 1,110 people survived the disease. Many still suffer from various physical and mental health problems, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, headaches, joint pain and vision problems. Eleven-year-old Tonhon was the first patient to be cured by ALIMA teams during the latest Ebola outbreak in 2016 in Guinea.

Guinea | Momentary discomfort of a child in Nzerekore during a measle vaccination campaign held in March 2017. Less than two years ago, health workers and authorities were widely mistrusted and even thought to be the source of the Ebola epidemic. Today, parents are bringing their children to those same actors to ensure that they don’t get sick.

MALI

Timbuktu Region, November 2017. Oumar, 17 years old, was brought in unconscious from septic shock. He had a tiny sore on his leg that got out-of-hand. Over 90% of the skin on his right leg was dead and had to be surgically removed. Even though the lights went out during the surgery and the team had to switch on their phones' flashlight so the surgeon, Dr. Ongoiba, could continue working, Oumar survived, thanks to ALIMA/AMCP teams.

Mali | Babies born in the Timbuktu region in November 2017. “In this region, women rarely give birth in a health center. Those who stay home risk complications that can put their lives, and that of their babies, in danger. A woman should not die when giving life."

NIGER

April 2017. A mobile clinic travels throughout the department of Tchintabaraden in the Tahoua region to provide free consultations for children under the age of five and pregnant women. Mobile healthcare is a concept that was created to address the medical needs of nomadic populations.

NIGERIA

Monguno, a Local Government Area in Northeastern Nigeria, is now home to as many as 230,000 people. The majority took refuge here after fleeing attacks between Boko Haram and the military. Families live within local host communities, as well as in formal and informal camps. There is a widespread lack of access to adequate shelter, food and health care.

Nigeria | Many families that have settled in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps in Monguno now live in makeshift shelters. Most no longer have access to farmland to grow crops and people must wait in long lines each day to fill their jugs with fresh water. Unable to afford firewood to cook with, many walk to the outskirts of the camp to chop wood.

Nigeria | In August 2017, the country was hit by a cholera outbreak. The most affected area was on the outskirts of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, in the Muna Garage camp, which is home to some 32,000 internally displaced persons. The city of Maiduguri, and the communes of Dikwa, Mafa and Monguno, were also affected by the outbreak.

SOUth sudan

In Raja, in northeastern South Sudan, the living conditions are precarious for the families that remain amid the ongoing conflict. Much of the population lacks access to adequate food and hygiene. The markets are empty and throughout the district most health structures have been destroyed. The Raja Hospital now serves as the only referral center for an estimated 90,000 people.