In 2023

In 2023, Doctors with Africa CUAMM was engaged in assessment missions and meetings with local authorities to explore and learn about a new (to us) country: Ivory Coast. With the support of a few Catholic organizations already present there, we took the first steps to lay the foundations of a structured presence. Positioned as 166th out of 193 on the human development index ranking, Ivory Coast is an east African country with worrying health data. There has been peace in the country since 2010, after a 5-month civil war which caused 3,000 deaths. Half of its 29 million residents are under 20 years old and the average expected life span is about 58 years.

The fertility rate is 4.4 children per woman; the mortality rate for children under five years old is 69.4 out of 1,000, while the maternal mortality rate is 385 per every 100,000 live births. The average health expenditure per capita is about 75 dollars. Despite being rich in natural resources, Ivory Coast is marked by inequality and contrast between cities and rural areas, and between north and south, where the largest city, Abidjan, is home to 10 million residents. The country is a draw to the workforce of its neighbors, yet it is also the departure point for many migrants who struggle to survive, and it’s a “special observatory” onto another very fragile, impoverished area: the Sahel.

CUAMM’s intervention was focused on a few important activities, mainly supporting and coordinating the URSS-CI (Union des Religieux dans la Santé et le Social en Côte d’Ivoire), a network which gathers all the Catholic congregations found in the country, and its legal recognition as a sole entity by local authorities; building renovations and the provision of equipment, including medicines and other supplies, which directly involved 13 health centers; and the training and updating of healthcare staff, through classes conducted in 71 health centers in nine different regions. CUAMM has thus planted the seeds which will bear fruit in what is now our ninth partner country.