Première Urgence Internationale has closed its mission in France

For over 10 years, Première Urgence Internationale has carried out health mediation activities in squats and shantytowns in the Paris region. On January 1, 2023, according to estimates by the Délégation interministérielle à l’hébergement et à l’accès au logement (DIHAL), nearly 11,300 people were living in 249 camps, shantytowns or large inhabited squats. Marginalized, these populations have limited access to basic services, including fundamental rights such as access to water, hygiene and health.

Première Urgence Internationale initially opened its mission in 2012 in the squats and shantytowns of the Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne departments, mainly centered around health mediation. As of 2019, having extended its activities to the Essonne department, Première Urgence Internationale has included mental health care in its mediation and outreach activities, in view of the needs of vulnerable populations and the lack of care in squats and shantytowns.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the significant mental health needs of the public targeted by our activities: loss of access to health structures, reduced intervention by associative partners and increased isolation of beneficiaries, confinement, travel restrictions, lack of access to information, etc. In 2023, Première Urgence Internationale teams responded to the needs of over 2,500 people, including 381 people specifically treated for mental health problems.

A halt to activities due to lack of funding

The economic situation that has forced Première Urgence Internationale to close its mission is far from being an exception in the associative and humanitarian sector in France. It is just one more example of the mismatch between the volume of funds available for projects aimed at disadvantaged populations, and the level of need, which grows every year.

Aside from this steady growth in needs, it’s important to remember that 2024 will be a special year due to the organization of the Olympic Games on French territory. The organization of this major international event will have an impact on the care of the populations concerned: displacement of precarious populations outside their area of integration, reduced access to healthcare structures, restricted access to sites for associative players, displacement of populations to areas not covered by the players, risk of loss of follow-up support for current beneficiaries, etc. It is therefore important to take these new issues into account in 2024 financing strategies.

Against this backdrop of closures and a lack of overall funding for associative structures, Première Urgence Internationale remains particularly concerned about the continuity of care for the people it assists, and more broadly for vulnerable groups in France.

Première Urgence Internationale gives its recommendations to the regional health agency

• Matching project funding and disbursement methodologies with the accounting and financial management capacity of local associations;
• Taking into account the Olympic Games and their impact on precarious populations in strategic budgetary and operational planning for 2024;
• The creation of an ARS/Olympic Games Organizing Committee/associative and institutional working group to integrate the specific problems of vulnerable populations into the organization of the Olympic Games;
• Reinforcing mobile prevention and health promotion activities;
• Increasing the capacity of healthcare facilities ;
• Raising intercultural awareness among professionals.

To accompany the closure of this mission, the Première Urgence Internationale Mission France team produced a global health guide in French and Romanian, bringing together all the awareness-raising actions carried out according to identified needs, as well as guidelines by department, available in French and Romanian.

An advocacy report has also been drawn up for healthcare players in France. Its aim is to raise awareness of the problems and needs of people far removed from the healthcare system.