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Ibfan Afrique


IBFAN Afrique – French speaking Western Africa


Physical:  Rue Elie Saré, Ouaga 2000

Postal :  01 BP 1776 OUAGADOUGOU 01 – BURKINA FASO

Telephone :     00226 50 37 41 64

Email:              ibfanfan@fasonet.bf


IBFAN Afrique was established in 1989 to contribute towards enhancing mother and child health through the protection, promotion and support of optimal infant feeding practices in French speaking African countries. The eleven countries currently covered by the network are mainly those located in West and Central Africa and include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. IBFAN groups in these countries are non -governmental organisations which are officially recognised by the authorities in their countries and are staffed by volunteers who undertake actions in line with the national government health development policy.   In 2012, the strongest groups were operating in Burkina Faso, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire (still active despite socio-political turmoil), Mali, Niger, and Togo. Political unrest in Guinée and the Central African Republic has hampered activities. There is fear about the same thing happening in Mali with the secession movement in the northern part of the country, with high risk of imminent civil war. Contacts were made in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Rwanda.  


All countries in the network belong to the least developed countries although at international level Côte d’Ivoire and Gabon are considered as emerging. The main features at social and health levels are rampant poverty, very low per capita income, very poor health indicators, high child malnutrition and high infant mortality and morbidity rates, and sometimes high HIV infection rates.