The emergency medical organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) handed over its projects in Republic of Congo in May, after working in the country for 11 years. Activities will now be run by the Ministry of Health, the Conseil national de lutte contre le sida, the Mission G.O. Congo and Psys d’Afrique. Despite the transfer, there is still a serious shortage of medical personnel to care for people of the Pool region and a real need for a more rigorous commitment by the Ministry of Health.

Photo: Jiro Ose, MSF-Canada | The emergency medical organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) handed over its projects in Republic of Congo in May, after working in the country for 11 years.

During its time in the Congo, MSF found that people living in the Pool region continue to have enormous and unmet requirements for access to healthcare, to affordable and high-quality medicine and to adequately trained and paid medical personnel.

MSF’s experience in 2005 in handing over a project in Betou showed that the Ministry of Health must make a greater commitment to providing healthcare. Today, for example, the Ministry of Health has still not concluded a memorandum of agreement with the Mission G.O. Congo to ensure the continuity of medical services provided to the people of Kindamba.

During the war, MSF provided medical care typical in a situation of conflict, such as emergency surgery and treatment for malnutrition. But for the last several years, MSF mainly offered treatment for chronic diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. MSF’s departure from the Congo comes after an improvement in security in the region and changes of approach in the organization’s medical intervention. According to MSF patients in the Pool, insecurity is not an obstacle in their efforts to obtain healthcare. This indicates a context suitable for a long-term commitment by the Ministry of Health.  Consequently, and in view of the priority it gives to emergency medical action in humanitarian crises, MSF is withdrawing from the Congo.

Photo: Jiro Ose, MSF-Canada

MSF notes that the Congolese people still have many health needs, including the prevention and treatment of malaria, HIV, prenatal care and emergency obstetrical services. Sleeping sickness also needs to be monitored and treated on an ongoing basis to reduce the risk of future epidemics.  

MSF urges the Ministry of Health and the international community to continue to invest in the health needs of the Congolese and to support the local agencies that will respond to these needs.