Interview with Moussa Kaba, health coordinator in Burkina Faso

Moussa is health coordinator for Première Urgence Internationale in Burkina since October 2020

Can you Introduce Yourself ?

I am a general practitioner in the process of finalizing a master 2 in community health and epidemiology. I come from the Republic of Guinea, I am 38 years old, I am married and father of a very cute little boy.

What job did you want to do as a child?

Ever since I was a child, I told myself that I wanted to be a doctor because my father was the director of a hospital.

How did your humanitarian commitment come about?

During one of my internships, I realized that I had to wait for the patients to come to me so I preferred to join the NGOs that intervene to save lives by going directly on the field.

What has been your career path at Première Urgence Internationale?

After a collaboration with the Première Urgence Internationale team in Guinea, I started the expatriation in 2017 as Health Project Manager on the Ndélé base in Central African Republic for 18 months. I then became Health Project Manager on the Bangui base still in Central African Republic for 7 months.

I am currently on assignment in Burkina Faso as Health Coordinator since October 2020.

What is the thing you have done that you are most proud of since you started working at Première Urgence Internationale?

I have many stories to tell that make me love this humanitarian profession!

When I was Health Coordinator in the Central African Republic, we were able to build the buildings of an entire health district in Bangui, which today allows the health authorities, the regulator of the health system, to work in an ideal setting.

I also remember that we facilitated the referral of a young patient from Ndélé to Bangui. He had been ill for a long time and the technical facilities in Ndélé did not allow for his treatment; we therefore facilitated his evacuation via the UNHAS flight to Bangui. I met him at the airport and took him to the hospital where he met a professor specialized in traumatology who ordered his hospitalization. He underwent interventions that Première Urgence Internationale facilitated. He was able to walk again without crutches.

Can you describe the current situation in the Sahel region of the three borders (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger)?

The situation is getting worse and worse, as governments in the Sahel are losing territory to unidentified armed groups. As a result, humanitarian needs in these three countries are increasing. The governments are not able to meet the needs of the populations, the technical and financial partners are providing assistance but there is still a gap.

What are the most urgent humanitarian needs?

The populations in these three countries need everything! The priorities are shelter because they leave their locality and sometimes they sleep outside, health and nutritional security. Protection is also very important because people leave their localities out of fear and take refuge in other localities, so they must be protected.