For years, the Ivory Coast was one of Africa’s most stable countries until war broke out between northern-based insurgents and southern-based government troops in 2002. Fighting was mostly concentrated in the rebel-held north, and thousands of civilians - including up to 90 per cent of doctors - fled the region.
Social services were brought to a standstill as staff fled clinics, hospitals and schools. Currently 700,000 people are displaced and large parts of the population do not have access to essential health and education services. Although the fighting has stopped, the Ivory Coast remains tense and divided. The north’s infrastructure remains in a state of disrepair, and many qualified staff who were displaced during the war have failed to return to their former workplaces.
In the rebel-held northern Korhogo and Bouake Districts where Merlin works, the staffing shortage is so acute that just half of the clinics are run by qualified nurses and around two-thirds of facilities have no midwives. Nearly one in five children die before their fifth birthday and an estimated 570,000 people are living with HIV.
HOW MERLIN IS HELPING:
Merlin began working in the Ivory Coast in 2002, providing emergency health care to around 26,000 people displaced by the conflict.
Severe malnutrition in the west of Bouake
Merlin is implementing a nutrition programme in Mankono (west of Bouake) targeting 2,500 children up to five years old with five outpatient therapeutic programmes, which provide regular check-ups, and one stabilisation centre.
Renovating schools
The renovation of a network of schools throughout Bouake benefits more than 3,000 pupils and helps to attract teachers, doctors and nurses back to the region. The project contributes to the long recovery of the country and the return of state employees to post-conflict zones.
Key achievements
• Directly benefiting 1,085,731 people indirectly and 120,958 people to date
Donors supporting Merlin's work
European Commission for the schools project and the government of Sweden (SIDA) for the nutrition programme
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