Overseas

REUNION ISLAND

Considered the most unequal territory in France, Reunion Island is faced with a very high level of precarity, with almost 40% of its population living below the poverty line. Numerous contextual factors (geographical, climatic, social, etc.) endanger the health of the island’s population, especially when combined with environmental factors.

Housing is one of the island’s biggest problems. To help address it, the Fondation Abbé Pierre has launched an initiative in collaboration with the Street to Housing Network, while, in May 2020, Médecins du Monde launched an exploratory mission on the impact of poor housing on health. Meanwhile, in response to the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, MdM’s volunteers on Reunion Island conducted prevention and awareness-raising activities in 2020.

MAYOTTE

In Mayotte, life in 2020 was marked by the continuation of deportations, the multiplication of control operations and expulsions and the destruction of housing. The consequences of these operations – deterioration in access to healthcare and increase in the number of people deciding not to seek healthcare – were greatly compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Access by part of the population to health facilities, including screening and vaccination centres, was severely impeded, making it impossible to prevent the virus from spreading.

In response, Médecins du Monde set up outreach activities in several neighbourhoods and communes of Mayotte aimed at providing information, awareness-raising and screening, with the prescription of masks, medical follow-up and advice to isolated populations without access to health services. FRENCH GUIANA

In French Guiana, the COVID-19 health crisis in 2020 greatly heightened the social and health vulnerability of the most disadvantaged people. Difficulties in accessing To Rights and Healthcare grew significantly, due partly to the reorganisation or closure of health services and state public services, and partly to the population’s reduced mobility and overcrowded living conditions.

In response, Médecins du Monde set up an emergency project that sent mobile health teams and prevention and information workers into informal housing areas and organised Screening/ Confirmation/Follow-up activities, as well as a system of home visits to monitor and support infected people and their contacts. A team of peer health mediators also joined the programme, working on MdM’s activities as well as those of our operational partners. Médecins du Monde thus established itself as a major player in managing the crisis in French Guiana through its development of health mediation and its outreach approach.