Niger News

Niamey ‒ In Niger, efforts are underway to mainstream screening for gynaecological cancers into primary health care services thanks to the WHO PEN approach, a WHO programme that aims to integrate the management of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) into basic health care. This initiative, in its pilot phase, is being carried out in Mayahi District, Maradi Region, in the centre south of the country.

Located in the African meningitis belt, Niger is one of the 26 ‘hyperendemic’ African countries for meningitis. The country is currently facing a rapid increase in the number of cases, with a 50% rise on the previous year.

Niamey – “Six months ago I went for check-up …  I thought it was something simple like flu, but my illness was much more serious,” says Ali, 47, from Talladje district of Niger’s capital Niamey. “I was diagnosed with tuberculosis and HIV.”

Niamey – Mariam, a mother of five living in Kantché, a rural community in Niger's southern Zinder region, remembers the difficult time she went through earlier this year when two of her five children were hospitalized at the same time. “First, it was my nine-year-old son who came home with a strong cough, complaining of a sore throat. He coughed all night and it only got worse. He was finally hospitalized at the Kantché health centre, where his 11-year-old sister also fell ill and, in the end, both were lying there fighting the deadly disease.