Grow Strong Foundation logo
photo story

gallery

The medical team inside the intensive care unit of the MSF medical train monitor and stabalise a seriously war-wounded patient during the journey from Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine to Lviv, in western Ukraine. The journey takes approximately 20 hours. Ukraine, May 2022.

© Andrii Ovod

share this

In Benin, before Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) arrived in the southern department of Couffo, the proportion of pregnant women and women of childbearing age who visited a health centre on a regular basis was low. As a consequence, most women did not get medical checkups during their pregnancies, and they often gave birth at home. There was also significant demand for contraception, but around half of women of childbearing age did not have access to it. In this context, the maternal and infant mortality rate remained high , while some deaths could have been avoided by more regular medical monitoring.

Since 2022, MSF teams and partners from the Ministry of Health have been working at all levels of healthcare to ensure long-term and sustainable changes among communities in Couffo. Today, outreach and health promotion activities in the department’s villages are carried out mainly by women trained by MSF. The commitment of these women from the community has enabled a link to be established between the health centres in the area and local people, particularly women, who are now visiting the centres on a much more regular basis.

A woman sitting on the floor

People are trying to rebuild from the rubble. Rafah is destroyed, with homes, shops, streets and healthcare facilities in ruins and electricity and water systems damaged. The area is also unsafe due to scattered unexploded artillery in the remnants of buildings, which will take years to clean.
“Health services, including the rest of humanitarian aid, and rebuilding of the city is needed for life to be able to come back to Rafah, but it’s still too dangerous for people to return in most areas,” says Pascale Coissard, who supports MSF's emergency coordinator. “As we were going to visit the former MSF Shabboura clinic in Rafah, we saw a child playing with a shell in Mawasi area. Although we cannot hear the bombs anymore, there are still dangers.” People are trying to rebuild from the rubble. Rafah is destroyed, with homes, shops, streets and healthcare facilities in ruins and electricity and water systems damaged. The area is also unsafe due to scattered unexploded artillery in the remnants of buildings, which will take years to clean.

In Benin, before Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) arrived in the southern department of Couffo, the proportion of pregnant women and women of childbearing age who visited a health centre on a regular basis was low. As a consequence, most women did not get medical checkups during their pregnancies, and they often gave birth at home. There was also significant demand for contraception, but around half of women of childbearing age did not have access to it. In this context, the maternal and infant mortality rate remained high , while some deaths could have been avoided by more regular medical monitoring.

Since 2022, MSF teams and partners from the Ministry of Health have been working at all levels of healthcare to ensure long-term and sustainable changes among communities in Couffo. Today, outreach and health promotion activities in the department’s villages are carried out mainly by women trained by MSF. The commitment of these women from the community has enabled a link to be established between the health centres in the area and local people, particularly women, who are now visiting the centres on a much more regular basis.

‘Thanks to a safe delivery, my life has been preserved’

In Benin, before Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) arrived in the southern department of Couffo, the proportion of pregnant women and women of childbearing age who visited a health centre on a regular basis was low. As a consequence, most women did not get medical checkups during their pregnancies, and they often gave birth at home. There was also significant demand for contraception, but around half of women of childbearing age did not have access to it. In this context, the maternal and infant mortality rate remained high , while some deaths could have been avoided by more regular medical monitoring. Since 2022, MSF teams and partners from the Ministry of Health have been working at all levels of healthcare to ensure long-term and sustainable changes among communities in Couffo. Today, outreach and health promotion activities in the department’s villages are carried out mainly by women trained by MSF. The commitment of these women from the community has enabled a link to be established between the health centres in the area and local people, particularly women, who are now visiting the centres on a much more regular basis.
In Benin, before Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) arrived in the southern department of Couffo, the proportion of pregnant women and women of childbearing age who visited a health centre on a regular basis was low. As a consequence, most women did not get medical checkups during their pregnancies, and they often gave birth at home. There was also significant demand for contraception, but around half of women of childbearing age did not have access to it. In this context, the maternal and infant mortality rate remained high , while some deaths could have been avoided by more regular medical monitoring.