Lesotho

This content comes from the International Activity report 2015. Since then, MSF did not intervene in Lesotho.

After nearly a decade of working in Lesotho, MSF handed over all its projects to the government in November 2015.

Lesotho is a mountainous, landlocked country with few roads, where many people face barriers to accessing healthcare – not only because of the cost of travelling to health facilities, but also because of the shortage of skilled health workers.

During its time in the country, MSF focused mainly on providing free maternal care to women, as well as family planning and HIV treatment. There is a high prevalence of HIV in Lesotho – it is 27 per cent among pregnant women – and this, along with tuberculosis (TB) co-infection, contributes to high rates of maternal death.

Family planning services and ante- and postnatal care were offered at the MSF-supported St Joseph’s district hospital in Roma, six health clinics in the lowlands and three clinics in remote Semonkong.

Within a year of MSF covering all expenses for antenatal care and deliveries at St Joseph’s Hospital, the number of women giving birth there increased by 45 per cent. During 2015, an average of 130 babies were delivered there every month.

MSF also trained and mentored local staff at these facilities in how to provide integrated care for patients co-infected with HIV and TB. Local counsellors and community health workers initiated and followed up patients on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. HIV viral load monitoring was also expanded, and lay counsellors were trained to deliver counselling to help patients understand the importance of adhering to their ARV treatment. As a result, by the time MSF left, over 80 per cent of first-line ARV patients had attained virological suppression.

Year MSF first worked in the country: 2006

MSF currently has no operations in Lesotho.