Attachments
PREVIEW
The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC) has identified 18 incidents of violence against health workers or obstruction of access to health care in Niger in 2023, compared to 13 in 2023 and four in 2021. In 2023, at least seven health workers were kidnapped. This briefing note is based on SHCC’s 2021-2023 data on health care in Niger, available on the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX) website.
CONTEXT
Violence persisted in Niger in 2023, but according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), the violence was less intense than in previous years. Islamist armed groups continued their insurgencies. This was the case for the non-state group Islamic State in the Sahel Province (ISSP) and Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), particularly in the Tillabéri region, and for the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), particularly in the Diffa region in the southeast of the country.
Niger’s president was overthrown in a military coup in July. Subsequent sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) disrupted the import of basic goods, including food aid. 3 Obstacles to access to basic services, including health care, also arose after Nigeria cut off electricity supplies to Niger, which had previously relied on Nigeria for 70 percent of the country’s electricity. Uncertainty for humanitarian agencies arose in late August when the military government declared that UN agencies and international NGOs should cease operations in military “zones of operation.”
Severe flooding affecting large areas of Niger and a diphtheria outbreak in July in the Zinder region, which subsequently spread throughout the country, have further exacerbated humanitarian needs in 2023.
