Niger’s healthcare system is facing major difficulties. Despite the progress made in recent years, the country still has a high mortality rate among children under five (77 deaths per 1 000 live births in 2020), while stunted growth continues to have a devastating impact on the long-term development of human capital. The shortage of qualified healthcare professionals, particularly doctors, nurses and care assistants, has repercussions on the overall health of the population. In addition, 75 % of girls are married before the age of 18 and 30 % before the age of 15 .
According to a press release dated September 23, funding has been approved by the World Bank to enable the Nigerien government to expand the provision of better quality health services to women and children. This funding is part of a multi-phase program approach over 15 years.
The first phase of the program approach is the Lafia-Iyali project. He focuses on providing women and girls with access to improved health and nutrition services, particularly in the Zinder and Maradi regions.
The total budget for the first phase of the project is $125 million.
