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Niger: AmeriCares Medical Aid and Disaster Relief

Located in western Africa, Niger is one of the world's most impoverished and underdeveloped nations. More than two out of three of people in Niger live on less than $1 a day and have almost no access to health care. Many men, women and children are forced to rely on traditional medicine and home remedies.

Lack of health care workers, adequate funding and coordination are major obstacles to healthcare expansion. Low educational achievement, extreme poverty, malnutrition, poor sanitation and limited access to clean drinking water compound health care issues. Preventable diseases such as malaria and bronchitis are prevalent and commonly fatal. Diseases with high epidemic potential, such as cholera and meningitis, remain major public health threats.

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Emergency Response and Disaster Relief      

Since 1996, AmeriCares has worked closely with Nigerien Ministry of Health to provide emergency response and disaster relief assistance. AmeriCares coordinated an emergency airlift in response to Niger's 2005 food crisis, a famine threatening over 2.5 million people with starvation.

AmeriCares delivered 30,000 pounds of antibiotics, essential medicines and oral rehydration solutions to feeding centers and clinics across the country. These medicines combated illness linked to and intensified by chronic malnutrition. AmeriCares provided 30,000 people with three months of medical treatment. Read more about the emergency airlift >

Medical and Humanitarian Aid    

Since 1986, AmeriCares has delivered over $380 million worth of medical aid and humanitarian relief to Niger. AmeriCares is actively involved in an anti-blindness coalition led by the World Health Organization for the Global Elimination of Trachoma by 2020 (GET 2020). This initiative is the central focus of AmeriCares' ongoing efforts in Niger.

Trachoma is a highly infectious eye disease caused by bacteria. It is prevalent in areas with crowded living conditions and deficient sanitation systems. Chronic trachoma infections cause the eyelids to become scarred and the eyelashes to pull inward, a very painful condition resulting in blindness. The loss of vision has devastating impacts on the individual, and can often threaten a family's livelihood. Those disabled by loss of sight cannot work or contribute to their household, and are provided minimal government assistance. AmeriCares provides antibiotics, hygienic and surgical supplies for the treatment and prevention of Trachoma.

Read about how AmeriCares medical assistance helped Nana, a seven-year-old Nigerian girl, recover her sight >

Medical Outreach Program    

AmeriCares also donates medical products to qualified U.S. health care professionals who are traveling to Niger to provide charitable medical care to some of the country’s most under-served people. Through this program, donated medicines and medical supplies reach impoverished and isolated communities where even basic medical care is often non-existent. Read a story from one of their missions »

Help AmeriCares save lives in Niger and around the world »

AmeriCares is approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (C) (3) tax-exempt organization, and all donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law. AmeriCares Federal Identification Number (EIN) is 061008595.