Benin

U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa / U.S. Sixth Fleet News Lagos, Nigeria January 31, 2023 The pediatric intensive-care unit (ICU) housed a single oxygen tank, few beds, and a lot of children in need. Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Agossou Marcellin, at the time a General Medical Practitioner in Benin, had an impossible decision to make. Nine hours earlier, he’d admitted a seven-year-old girl with severe anemia – a complication of malaria contracted days before. Worse, the accompanying fever was boiling her, causing seizures. He treated the malaria, but without a blood transfusion, she would remain in critical condition. Her mother couldn’t afford the four-dollar cost, the father was nowhere to be seen, and Marcellin had no way to pay for it himself. To delay the inevitable, he hooked her to the tank, infusing her wearied blood with needed oxygen and she stabilized. For nine hours he waited for a blood transfusion that never came. Instead, a man burst into the ward carrying his six-year-old son, the boy’s lungs wracked with respiratory issues and in desperate need of air. So, the impossible choice had to be made. Does Marcellin keep the girl on oxygen, giving her time for a transfusion that may never come? Or does he switch the tank to the boy, and hope the girl stabilizes on her own? But he’d done this before. In the neonatal intensive care unit, they would share a single oxygen tank between multiple infants, rotating between babies and watching them go from blue to pink before switching to the next. Theoretically, the same could be done for the six and seven year olds. He switched the tank to the boy, but before he could turn his head back, the girl spiraled. He frantically hooked her up again, and began chest compressions. Without oxygen, the boy stopped breathing. They both died. “I was devastated,” Marcellin said. “I felt like I failed. My goal has always been to save lives, yet my hands were tied – I was furious and I couldn’t do it anymore. So I …

COTONOU, Benin (May 13, 2022) – The U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and representatives from the Governments of Benin and Niger met May 12-13 to advance a proposed regional development grant designed to reduce the cost of transportation along the road corridor between the port of Cotonou and the capital city of Niamey. MCC’s Principal Deputy Vice President for Compact Operations, Kyeh Kim, convened a trilateral meeting during the visit where MCC and the Benin and Niger government representatives agreed upon key parameters, commitments, and timelines for the proposed Benin-Niger Regional Transport Compact. “Partner countries can grow faster, create more jobs, and attract greater investment when part of a dynamic interconnected regional markets,” said Kim. “Today’s agreements demonstrate the sincere commitment from the governments of both Benin and Niger to strengthen cross-border collaboration, create efficiencies, and build more robust economies together.” By reducing transportation costs between the two countries, the proposed Benin-Niger Regional Transport Compact will increase regional trade, attract investment, and ultimately contribute to the region’s efforts to reduce poverty through economic growth. “The Benin-Niger border crossing is one of the busiest crossings between any coastal and land-locked country in the region,” added the U.S. Ambassador to Benin, Brian Shukan. “Strengthening and rehabilitating this corridor will allow goods to flow faster and more efficiently through the Port of Cotonou, reaching additional markets in the region and beyond.” The proposed compact will have two priorities: reducing transportation costs along the Cotonou-Niamey Corridor by rehabilitating portions of the existing roadway; and improving freight and customs operations. “Pairing the infrastructure investment with improvements in institutional governance at the border crossing will ensure Nigerien goods have better access to regional and global …