Mauritania
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is in Mauritania to support migrants and refugees. Some travel overland through Mali, while others are turned back at sea, while attempting to cross to the Canary Islands.
Our activities in 2024 —
outpatient consultations
children admitted to outpatient feeding programmes
From June, we started to run a mobile clinic in several villages in Bassikounou, to assist people who had arrived from Mali, and the communities who host them.
Our teams provided general consultations, vaccinations, mental health care, and nutrition support, as well as treatment for sexual violence.
The main health problems we treated during our response were respiratory infections, severe acute malnutrition, and mental health issues, including intense forms of stress.
During this time, we also started an epidemiological survey on nutrition, health, and the impact of violence, to guide the next stages of our response.
In October, MSF started reinforcing local rescue efforts, and improving care for migrants who attempted to make the perilous Atlantic crossing to the Canary Islands, leaving from Mauritania or Senegal. Our response focused on two key areas: enhancing the maritime rescue chain at sea and on shore, and supporting reception at disembarkation points.
MSF collaborated with local organisations to improve rescue operations and survivor assistance along the coast. This included training local officials in mass-rescue operations and first aid, as well as strengthening coordination between sea and land rescue efforts. In addition, we supported health facilities to prepare for large influxes of patients.
Our teams also delivered medical care at the disembarkation point in Nouadhibou, and ensured that migrants had access to protection services through the opening of a reception and care facility. In December, MSF teams responded to three disembarkations and two land interceptions. With our referral, 19 people were admitted to hospital. We did not directly witness any deaths during our responses, but received reports of 56 people who died either during their journeys or in shipwrecks.