This morning, at the Zinder Airport about 900 Km from the capital Niamey, the Italian soldiers of the Bilateral Support Mission (MISIN) and the Embassy of Italy, in the presence of the Minister for the Interior of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum of the governor of the Zinder Region, Issa Moussa and other local authorities, provided for the delivery of a batch of about seven tons of drugs, medical devices and surgical instruments donated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian International Cooperation to the health service Nigerian as part of the mission in Niger.
This donation is part of a series of cooperation initiatives between Italy and Niger already launched by 24 last April, which includes a structured support, in several sectors of intervention, in order to provide a concrete contribution to the resolution of particular local criticalities.
MISIN staff has identified the priority of intervention in the public health sector, in consideration of the particular situation of the country's military and civil health care. Brigadier General Antonio Maggi, commander of MISIN, and the Italian ambassador, Marco Prencipe, supported by technical and medical personnel, identified and delivered, on the occasion of the celebrations of the Nigerian Republic day, a series of drugs and aids health care considered essential, then agreed with the health workers of the Epidemiological Observatory of the World Health Organization, present in the Nigerian capital. The list of needs led to the supply of a batch of additional health devices, drugs and surgical instruments of about 7 tons, which is part of a series of donations that will allow local authorities to treat some diseases widespread in the region (cholera, meningitis and measles).
In particular, this donation, coordinated by MISIN, made it possible to restore pharmaceutical stocks to combat the ongoing meningitis epidemic and to combat the pathologies characteristic of the dry season with the delivery of drugs for about 30 patients, as well as increase health support in the fight against cholera by providing an additional water purifier. So far seven donations have been made for a total of approximately 000 tons of medical supplies delivered.
The donated medical material was collected thanks to the continuous and fruitful contacts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation with various international and national actors, as well as with the involvement of the United Nations, which made available materials stored at the Humanitarian Emergency Response Base (UNHRD) of Brindisi. The Armed Forces, for their part, have allowed the transport of drugs and materials thanks to the C130 J aircraft carriers made available by the Italian Air Force and the logistical support of the Navy, as well as the delivery of the same to the Nigerian authorities through of MISIN military personnel.
This new donation is also a tangible sign of the willingness to actively support Niger to face an emergency situation and, at the same time, is a clear demonstration of how the missions carried out by our Armed Forces abroad are increasingly marked as interministerial and inter-agency , as well as an expression of the commitment of the whole "country system" in the concrete help to local realities where it intervenes and in the protection of national interests.
