Significant healthcare improvements for vulnerable communities in the Sahel

Key achievements

Between 2018 and 2024, significant progress was made in healthcare delivery across the region:

• Expansion of medical services: In Mali and Mauritania, more than 5 million individuals—half of whom were women—accessed fundamental health services. This figure exceeded the initial target of 3.65 million. Health facilities in targeted areas saw a notable rise in care quality due to better equipment, specialized staff training, and enhanced patient management.

• Maternal and obstetric care: Within conflict-affected regions of Mali, the rate of pregnant women receiving vital prenatal checkups tripled, rising from 13% to 38%. Meanwhile, Mauritania recorded 160,000 births attended by skilled professionals, surpassing the set goal by 20%.

• Pediatric health milestones: Mali facilitated 1.17 million medical consultations for children under five, addressing common ailments like malaria, diarrhea, and respiratory infections. Mauritania achieved a vaccination rate for over 200,000 children—triple the original objective—and provided nearly 5 million consultations for the same age group.

• Nutritional support: In Mauritania, 750,000 women and children received nutritional assistance to combat malnutrition effectively.

• Healthcare accessibility: By the project’s conclusion, 460,000 vulnerable individuals in Mali had received free essential health services. In Mauritania, over one million free medical services were delivered to marginalized populations, including refugees, with 81% of targeted households receiving financial aid to cover medical costs.

• Family planning and contraception: Mali saw the contraceptive usage rate among adolescents nearly triple, moving from 5.8% to 15.3%. In Mauritania, the number of women utilizing modern birth control methods surged from approximately 9,000 to over 240,000, far exceeding expectations.