Central African Republic - Emergency Health Care - Doctors Without Borders Canada 2020

March 2020 - After a brief period of calm in 2016 the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) started to deteriorate in 2017. This has continued through late 2019 where a resurgence of direct confrontations between armed actors was observed. This combined with continued insecurity led to suspensions of movements of humanitarian actors impacting the humanitarian response. CAR is one of the most dangerous contexts in the world for humanitarian workers. The crisis in CAR is a protection crisis with violence against civilians particularly women and girls and sexual and gender-based violence cases commonplace. Approximately 35% of the population is food insecure and only 50% of the population has access to clean water. Regular violence across the country that is controlled by armed groups continues to exacerbate displacement; currently over one quarter of the country's population is displaced either internally (600 100) or as refugees in neighbouring countries (592 000). With GAC’s support Doctors Without Borders Canada is providing emergency health services for up to 593 000 conflict-affected people in Ouham and Ouham-Pende prefectures in the Central African Republic. Project activities include: (1) providing primary health care including 381 000 outpatient consultations and treating 300 000 people for malaria; (2) providing sexual and reproductive healthcare services including 1 000 postnatal consultations and 3 400 assisted deliveries; and (3) providing secondary healthcare services including 23 400 inpatient admissions and 9 800 pediatric admissions.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved equal access to a comprehensive package of primary health care for conflict- affected populations; (2) improved access to sexual and reproductive health services for women and men; and (3) improved equal access to a secondary healthcare services for conflict-affected populations. The expected ultimate outcome is lives saved suffering alleviated and human dignity maintained in countries experiencing humanitarian crises or acute food insecurity.