Report on a visit to Niger: 6 - 10 February 1978

IWORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANTE ORIGINAIT : EIIGII$I ONCHOCERCIASI S COI{TBOT PNOGAAINEII{ [T{E VOITA ru\TER BASIN ANEA ECONO}ffi C DEI/E}OHMNI I]NIT ocP/Ecl/78,24/Ne Report on a vislt to Niger 6-10 trbbnrary ISZB by D. Carrrey Ouagadougoul trbbnrary, 19Tg I I RJ]PORI 0II A VISIT TO NIGM 6 - 10 tr'ebruary 1978 D. Carney My visit to l'Ii,a.mey was ar?anged in order to renew eontacts with ll5.rristers, officia,ls and representatives of bilateral and m.rLtinatior:al altl a6enci.es, and to collect lnformation on developments taking place and envieged in the orrcho zone of lfiger with a vlew to upd,ating lnfonration for the 1978 socio-economlc report of the Onchocercia.sis Control hogra^"rme (OCP). Dr John Wrightl 0oordilator of ltrHO actirritles jn Nrger as we1l as [echnical Adviser and lnspector of Health of the i'[ini-shy of Health and. Social Affairs ofitllger organi-zed ny vj-sits and aecompanled me to all interriews. L[y prog:amme of visits was as follows : I/Iond.av. 6 Feb:r.rarv 15 h 50 : I{eetlng wlth Dr. J. lTright and Dr. Ibratri.m A. Cissdr Ivied.ecin-Chef drHygibne et de l,,,i6decine l,hbiIe 17 h 50 : L{r Jay Johnson, Director of USAID and his collea8ues ilh T/a1ter Shervrin ancl l,tn Sidney Blissr respeetively Chief of Prograrnne Brureau and Prograr@e Officer. 18 h 30 : I',tr }lichae1 Chal.lons, UNDP Resid.ent Representative Tuesday. 7 leb-ruar.y OB h'OO : Cdt Moussa Sa1a, LHrr1ster of Pub1lc i]eaIt]: and. Social Alfairs nr Idrlssa Talfi, Secretary-Genera1, I,rtinlstry of Public Health antlSocial,Affairs @ h 00 : Iflr Ari T. Ibral:-i-lr, Director of Ani.mal i{usbandry l-O h OO : 1,,{r Yacouba Tchernab., Secretary General, Ltinlstry of plar::rIrg L6 h 70 : Ih Philippe Prouste Djs'gg1sr', Caisse Centrale d.e Coopdration Econo- mique, Iflger lVednestlay. B Febrtrarv 0e h ,0 : Ir4r AIi Bako, Chef du Serv:Lce des L[1nes @ h 1O : I,tr Si].inpne Ganoua, Secr6tajre Permanent du ConseiJ. Ifational de D6veloppement L5 h 70 : Llr SouraTma Gador coord.or:natetr d.u fuojet Say. -2- fhyrsday. a Februar.l' 10 h 0O : Lh J. ileidorn, Second. Secretary, Enbassy of the FecleraL Republle of Ge:many 11 h OO : L,k James T. 'Iolj.ver, Jr, /\JBfCARE Representa.tlve 11 h 50 : Iitr J.P. iilarti.t:, Representatlve of the n.E.C. 12 h 00 : 1,,Ir Johan Goyens, UIID? f'biday. 1O Februarv 0B h 30 : }b i,Iichel lurryenr Chef de L,Iission frangaj-se de Coop6ration @ h 50 : Mr i,'iounkeila Arouna, l,iinistre des lvlines et de 1li{3rdraulique l-O h 0O : Dr Idrlssa Ta1:fl, Secr6taire G6n6ra1, I,Hn'j-stbre de Ia Sant6 Publtque et des Affaires Socj-ales 11 h 15 : I/ir Soukari Yonll, Responsable d.u Secter;r j.r:frastructure et progra^mes soci-aux, irlj.nistbre d.u P1an. -5- i!IOI{DAY 5 SMRUARY In ny dj.scussions with Drs 'trrigh! and. Ciss6 I was given an organ-igrame- of the Mlnlstry of Publ:lc Health and Soclal Affairs and rernlsea Utor.mationprovi.detl on the plannfug structure for the Amon4issement cte Say and on theIslalxic Urulversity of [/est Afrlca. the CoIEDIP (conite Ieehnlque D6partenental) was preslded. over by the ?refect and the COTEA-R (Coruitd Technique cltA:rondis- sement/ by the Sub-.hefect. flre irrfomation given on the rslamic un:iversity of say ln the 19zT socio- economic report was somewhat like an artlstts conception of what the wholep:oject wou1d. look like when conpleted.. lThereas, in fact orrly the flrst(foundation) stone has been laid ancl fir:ancing is beir:g sought for the project. _Ihe pianning sEucture for the entire country was briefly outlined bfDr. [Iri8ht. At the base rmas the COIEA-R (com:-te Tlchnique dtArrorrdi"""rrri) couposed, of the head.s of the d.jJferent seryices of the a:rond.issement and representatives of the local population and presided over by the Sub-.hefect.Itre CotEARs of each departroent are coordinated by the COTEDF"P (ConttO TechnlqueDdpartemental) of the departmen! there being one for each of 1}re seven a"p"ri-- ments of the oountry. There are in a].]- 36 co[EAp.s in the eountry. Each COTDEP is composed of the heads of the djjferent se:rrlces of thedepartment and. is presided over by the prefect. The seven COTEDEPs work up to, and. are coordinated. byrthe Conseil National de D6veloppenent (Ci[D) presided over by the L{lnister of riin:dr1g and havlng a membership whlch includes the Secretarj-es-General of the various 1\finistrieslthe Dlrector of the Bud.get and of fourism, am.or]g others. The secretariat ofthe CHD is headed. by a Pormanent Secretary. USAID/N:*qer I explained to L'lr, Johnsonr the Ai-d. llirector and his colleagues, that the main purpose of my vislt was to collect lnfo:mation for tire preparation of the1978 soclo-ecohomie report of the ocP and. wourd. like the usAh) section of thetable of projects 1n ocecution in }triger in the l9T7 soclo-economic report revtsed arrd brorrght up-todate. t __Iqving briefly revj.ewed the .oqgoing projects includi:rg a hydraulic study(weIls) to be completed by l[arcAApril 1978, a road project, and a soil studJrJn the proposed coloni-zatlon zone (Zone I) of the Arronciissement de Say, ttreAID offlcers promised to revi-se and transm:it the re,iu:rea ii:formatlon to OCp and to rnake available a copy of the hyclraulic study. i'Iention was made of the fact that the color:-iaation project jrr the A33on-dissenent d.e say was being held in abeyance for the time being. UNDP This rrisit was mostly in the nature of a courtesy vislt to the new UNDpResident Representative, trh, I/lichael Challons, who mentioned. that hls programrc officer would make available the lnforuation I required on ongoJ.r:g UND} pio;ects and a meetj.r:g should. be amangecl with hin. a a-4- TUESAY 7 FmP.UASY Ivfi:rister of Public Heal.th and Social Affalrs [he d.ay began with a meeting with the I'finister of Publlc Health and Socja1Affairs, Cdt iioussa Sa1a, with his SecretarSr-General, Dr. Id.rissa [a]tj. in attendance. Dr. Joirn -liright inf,roduced the subject of nqy visit, recal11ng the restrlcted meetir:g at n.lnisterial IeveI heId. on 23 Teeember a977 to consld.er the d.ifficulties and orj-entation of the planning and development of the Amon- dissement 6s Say. At this meetirrg lt had been agreed. to s:spend the trial colonjzation project in Zone I of the Amondissement, and. concentnate onirnproving the welfare of the existir:g population ln the Arondissement.by actions in the spheris of infuastructtre (health, v.rater and, transportailon) and agrieultural d.evelopment. The I'fintster took up the question of the need. for a health infrastructr.rei.n the anrondissement notir:g that a national health plan was bei"ng prepared byhis minlstry wlthin the fra.meworlr of the countryts Five-Year Plan startlng 1979. Obse:sring that thls was &n important development vrhich 1pd 'imporf,antimplications for the oncho zone (Arrondissement d.e Say) I mentj.oned the import- ance of vlewing the development of this zone j.n the context of the proposedflve-year rrationaL plan and lts objectives, d.efining the role of the arrondls- sement in the national economy, lts relationship as a region to other tlevelop- ment reglons of the country and hence elaborating a plan for its developnentln this regional context. The regj-ona1 approaeh to the planni"ng and. d.evelopnent of the A:rrondissement de Say, I euphasi-zed, was very important. Thls view met wlth the generai approval of the lvlinister, hj-s lSecretary-Genera1 and the !ilHOCoord.inator, D1.. John ifright. Dirqetor of Animal Husbandry. Ivi:n. Ari T. Iorahi.m IIr. Ari lbratri-m reviewed. the lnformatj-on on anjruaJ. husbandry in NJger contained. in the 1977 socio-econontc report of the ocP, er,rlaining the cr::rent situation in regard to each project z (a) T}re FNI-USL4.D-U}IDP-FAO anti-trypanosomiasls. spfa],UrB ca:apaign caleied out in 1976/77 was not effectiye, and an evaluatlon-was i,"irrg ca:ried out in order to determ:ine whether it should be repeated. Ihere vras also a problem of rej-rnrasion of tsetse flies from Benin and Upper Volta into the Say Amondissement. (U) me cattle survey financed. by UIilDP as part of the elaboratlon of a master plan for the Say A:rondissement had been completed and the resul-ts of the stud.y were pending. New projects envlsaged in 1978 were 3 (t) " krydro-pastoraL project L::'rolving establistrment of a ranch and.involvlng a total irrrestment of CFA JlO mitlion was beir:g finansJally assisted by the lrederal Republic of Gerna.n;, ; (i:-) a se-mpaign against animal parasitlc d.iseases, ehlefly tr;ryanosomiasis ; /...\(iii-/ an irttenslve cattle development project'lnvolvirg crod.i-t to caltlebrcd.crs to pr.r-rchase, fatten and se1l anLma1s, repaying the creditfrom proceeds of sale. -5- -Lch@. Ltn. Tehernala,, st-::nmoned. an aide, Hr. Bou-i<ari Yol1i, responsi-bIe for plan- ning of the sector i.rrvolving lnfbastructure and social programr,es, to be present at this meeting. I explained. the purpose of my visit : to eollect availableirrforuation on ongoing projects as well as projects completed and planned. I was info:metl that a Coordinator of the Say Project, l,Ir, Bor:1,aIpa Gad.oghad been appolnted and that he woul-d. malce available aIl- information'corrnected. with the project. i.Ir. Yonl-i was asked. to arange a meeting vrlth 1tr.. Gado. l,'tr. Philippe houst, Director of the CCE, lrrformed me tJrat there were nop_rojects__or4;oir:g or envisaged for firrancj-ng by the CCE in the oncho zone ofIliger. He expressed. an lnterest in receiving information about the 0Cp, jJiparticular the socio-economic report and. the oncho Fl-ash. VTMNESDAY B FItsRUAIIY l"Ir' AIi Bako, Chief of the seryiee of L{i::es, explaLr:ed. that in the savAmond.lsserent existed two principal nlneral deposlts : (a) :ron ana (p) firos-phate. content) but thls r.rasdis:dirantagedby a O.p ,/" - t / phosphonrs conte"t (p"O_) and its d'istance from the coast. the }iiger-ifigerian-Cooieration Conrmi""l6"J' vrith the assistance of UIIDP was studying the posslbility of exploitatj-on of -this deposit, of its 6oncentration 1ocal1y, ana its evacuatlon by river toIf:geria and. the coast. ]flgeria which was 6u11dr-ng up its i-pon and steelindustry provid.ed a potentlal rerket. Pho$Phate : These d.eposits had been lccown to exist'since 1969 in the regi.onof the Parc du \7 to the north of Tapoa at 150 ]or S,E. of I'Ijano6.y. fhere are more than 100 mi'llion tons of deposits at Tapoa, of 21 ir, p^O .-z5 lhere was also some copper and molybdenurm j-n the llptako region of Terairr I'triger. A ba:rage on the Tapoa was being contemplated for the production ofelectrlcity for phosphate rair::ir:S operations with possibility of irrigated agriculture. tr[r. siljmpne Ganoua, the perreurent secretary of the National DevelopupntCouncll was very fu-1Iy ir:fo:med of the problems and issues connected with thed'evelopment of the A$ondlssement de Say, and hfuhlighted the followi::g mtters: (a) rnportance of the arrond.issement in food prod.uctlon for the counh^5r ; (U) irrportance of establishment of a health j-::fbastructure for both hrman and an:i:ral health after the onchocer.ci-asis control operations of the OCP have becone effective ; t-6- (c) neea for add.itional information resources of the arrcond.issement question of resettlement versus on pedology, hydraulics and human vrhi.ch will have a beari_ng on the coloni-zation of the area. He a6reed on the usefulness of a regior:aI plann:ir:g and development approachfor the Say Arrond.issement. Pro BoutaTma - Iftf,. Gad.o, nevrly appointed (Septembet 1977) Coordinator of the Say project, exhlbited a fj::m gasp on affairs regarding thls project. He quiclcli s1-*r- 'iaed. m,tters as follows : (.) tt" Arrond.j-ssement cle Say is part of the area fa1llr1g rvithj-n thejurisdiction of the liptako-Gor.rma Authority. (u) poffowir:g the minlsterlaI meeting of 23 December 1977 (see account of meeting with L]j-nlster of I{ealth on f\resd.ay f tr'ebnrary) priorlty wasbeing glvjn to roads,.health and. water, and to agri.cultr:ral. cl.evelop- ment, witl: a vier,v to jmproving the we1lare of the indtgenous populatlon of the amondissement. (") f" regard to health emphasis was on irnprovlng exlstir:g dlspensartes - at tbmou and Say - and establishi::g a netrork of village health centres to increase the total to 20. fiunediate consideration was P_"lrrg given to establishjng dispensaries at La^lrord6-Torodi, Ki-ttachi,l,{akolon-i and. at Kounari i-n the Tapoa &T€oo (a) nesarding agricultural development, emphasls vriII be on au$nentatton of the cultivated a1ea, animal breeding and. watering points, and market 8]rdening. T:ere was cr'rrrently an important a6ricultr:ra1project (OXrrAiy'USAID) at Torodj- concentratir:g on seed improvements and cultivation by oxdravun ploughs. A possible project at Koulbou will concentrate on production of sorghum and rice, with asslstancegiven by the Catholic l\{ission. ft was hoped, by sui-table demonstratlon,to mercome the consezwatism of tJre peasants to ox-drawn ploughs. (") ft was also intended. to undertalre forest anC water eonser-vation and.development of fj shcrics. (t) rtre erploitation of the phosphates at Iapoa may lead to the stj-mrlation . of agricultural production ln the proposed Zone I colonization atrea. &r. Gado also agreed with the approach to reglonal planning of the SayArrond.j-ssement in the context of a reational persp-ctiver-ana indicated thatthe master plan for the arrondj-ssement was Ueing revised. in this context arrdin the light of the new d.irectives resultin€ from the intqs-zr:i.nisterlal ,"a*t,g ot23 December 1977. ITHURSNAY 9 FNtsRU1,RY @-gssy.ot tne feaeraf n i'o(r. I{eidornr Secohd. Secretary of the fubassy, explained that the hydro-pastoral project referred to in the ocp socio-economic report for 197T involvedan initial expendi-tr.ue of Di\,I 6 nt]lion ln Lg/D, lv}:-i-ch was lncreased by a frgtherDLI 5.075 nlIllon tn 1977 bringir:g the tota] to'Du I:Z.OTD. hojects contenrglated for the futl;re inelude : an abattoir, rlee eulti- 'vation at Tillabery (17or1d Bank US $ 15 mi1lion, Federal Republic Ui-5-s1i[1on), radi-o dlfflrsion, high tension lines to Tillabery (vrith tTIGEi,Ec), provision ofwater to Zinder and ]llameyr trai:rlng in al1 f1'eias coru:ected w:.th Ge:man_flnancedprojec_tsr medical_ project at Iahouae silo const:rrction and food aj.d (*itf.-Gfi""de la ?roduction,Yfimldre du i{iger), ,goIar energy, wind. energy for punplr€vrater (at Dottel), plant proteJio"' (ii;-r.5-rifii;");lJ;;?ty ro, stab{L-ization of solIs and for .consf,rrrction. materiars (i,,rinistry of p"[ric-wi;;;treconstitution of herds (li,r z nill-ion) and reforestationr ATRICAIE has an integrated development project at Tara along the banks rfthe }Iiger. This project 1les outside the orr"ho-rone (Arrondls"uil"rri-a" *Ul--and involves lrrlgated agriculture vvith several other lnputs in flshing anatpoultry, farm mana8ement, rnarket development, literacy trai::jr:g, cooperatlveorganizatlon and health senrices. _ Tl:e project is funded by nany souf,sss, including the T,illy Ehdowment, ch.t:t:ch organi^zations and USAID. tati' the CgnnmUrjf, Lh. Goyens promised to revise the li-st ofquestionnajre on neur projects for transmi ssion J.P UItiDP projects and conplete theto the Programme. the following projects financed by the European Comrnupitles are liJrely tcaffect the oncho zone favourably : (a) fuad'icalion of p6rlpnermonia : This gampaign vrill- be eonducted tncollaboration with Ifigerts neighbottrs. Tire project vri1l irryolve an erpenditure fo CF,4. JlO ni11ion. (b) Conglg,rction,and equipment of dlspensaries : this project rr,,il1 startin 1979 and i-nvolve an expenoiturG-ot cffi-e4I mi1llon. t-B- T,RIDAY 10 FTtsRUAITY Ivft'. 1*.,'"n explai-ned tJrat there were no projects fjsrancecl by the trbenchcooperation lilisslon ln the oncho zone of Nrger, but that the commlsslon Llixtetrbanco-Itrig6rieruae was currently preparlr:g pio;ects to be presented for financing. I paltt a courtesy call on the l,llinlster hi.m on the usefulness of reglonal plannfuigin the development of 1[.jgerrs oneho zone. and had and. the general d.iscussj.ons w1tLr contribution lt could nake of l{eal-th The Secretary-General was briefed appointments had. been fu1fl1Ied duririg by Dr. Johnl,''/right and.' the course of ray vj-slt. s@ myself on what I reported to l".Ir. Yonll the substance of my discussions with Mr, c.ado,coordir:ator of the.say Project. ive also discusled the utillty of reglonalplann:hg for the oncho zone arfi, the overall planni:g or $r.gerl and r pronised,to remain ln touch. D. Carney