MSF’s first ever mission was in Managua, the capital and largest city of Nicaragua, where an earthquake destroyed most of the city and killed between 10,000 and 30,000 people in 1972.
We spent 22 years treating victims of Chagas, a parasitic disease that attacks the heart and the nervous and digestive systems. The project closed in 2005, after the national health ministry had included the disease in a new 10-year plan and the rate of infections had dropped.
In 2018, we returned to Nicaragua to offer psychosocial support to people suffering from conditions such as anxiety, adjustment disorder and post-traumatic stress as a result of having witnessed or experienced violent events associated with civil and political unrest.
We also provided training in basic mental healthcare, psychological first aid and self-help to community leaders, groups and educators to enable them to give psychological support to others in crisis situations. We handed over all our activities to other organisations and closed our projects at the end of 2019.
