On 21 November 2021, a healthcare centre supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Foube, Barsalogho department, in the Centre-North region of Burkina Faso, was burnt down. A member of the MSF team was injured during an attack by unidentified armed men, most probably targeting the Foube gendarmerie post, a few hundred metres away. Our colleague, as well as other wounded patients have been quickly treated and evacuated to Ouagadougou, and are now in a stable condition.
Mamadou Diarra, head of mission for Médecins Sans Frontières in Burkina Faso, responds to the latest attack with the following quote:
“We are shocked by this news and alarmed by this situation in the Centre-North region of Burkina Faso, as in other parts of the country. The health post is now completely destroyed and can no longer treat patients. The violence continues to increase daily in Burkina Faso, trapping the Burkinabe people a little more each day, which is unacceptable.”
“In a humanitarian crisis such as this one, medical needs are largely unmet and people are trapped in the conflict. It is therefore imperative to protect medical assistance, as well as patients and medical staff, in all circumstances.”
In Burkina Faso, Médecins Sans Frontières works daily around the principles of impartiality, neutrality and independence and has been supporting the health district of Barsalogho since 2019 by providing basic healthcare to displaced people and host communities. The healthcare centre was built by MSF in 2019 and is now managed by the Barsalogho health authorities. Since January 2021, more than 19,700 consultations have already been carried out on this centre, of which just over a third were with children under the age of 5. We also support several healthcare centres with human resources and refer the most critical cases to the most appropriate healthcare centres.
MSF is working in Burkina Faso since 1995 and its teams are currently operating in five regions in Burkina Faso, providing primary and secondary healthcare to displaced people and host communities. These teams also support the medical referral system for the most critical cases and provide psychological care. In some areas, MSF logistics teams are also providing free clean water to people by rehabilitating old boreholes or building new ones.