ESCP ALUMNI magazine - Special Issue 2022 - 47

Career ❙ Story
In May 2009, it seemed crazy to create a
new model for medical humanitarian aid.
" When you work for MSF in the field, everybody
knows you and answers the phone. But
when you try to do the same thing, with the
same expertise, only under another name, you
only get the usual: 'We'll call you back', " says
Guillaume Le Duc. ALIMA started its first
mission in Niger, one of the poorest countries
in the world, where the mortality rate
is high among children under the age of
5 and pregnant women. " It was a complex
situation. Some NGOs had been kicked out of
the country by the government after a coup, "
reminds Guillaume Le Duc. " Some programmes
had to stop because of that. We had
partnered with another NGO, BEFEN (Bienêtre
de la femme et de l'enfant au Niger, Women
and Children Well-Being in Niger). They had
great skills but no access to international funding
and medical supply. "
Ebola treatments
In 2010, ALIMA only had a dozen
employees and had just moved into actual
offices after spending their first few months
in Augustin Augier's kitchen or in a café on
Boulevard Beaumarchais. Two humanitarian
crises broke out in Haiti; the first one came
after the earthquake, the second one was
a cholera epidemic. After the earthquake,
the young NGO sent 110 expat surgeons,
anaesthetists, and nurses on site; they had
45 tons of medical equipment sent by plane.
" We managed to perform surgeries in exceptional
conditions after we found one of the only
surgical units that had not collapsed. We immediately
did everything to perform reconstructive
surgery and avoid amputations. We met needs
that were way bigger than what we had back
then, " says Augustin Augier.
Malnutrition, migrations, paludism and
cholera epidemics: long-term missions
were many in DRC, Mali or Burkina Faso.
There was also the Ebola pandemic in
western Africa in 2014. ALIMA conducted
clinical and therapeutic trials and found
treatments against the virus. In 2015, the
NGO was awarded the EU first prize for the
ESCP Alumni Magazine Special issue ❙ 2022
help they brought to Ebola victims. " After
Ebola, we went a step further regarding medical
research; it was a huge leap for us, in terms of
quality and acknowledgement by our peers, "
relates Augustin Augier. " Clinical research
will help us save more lives, " adds Guillaume
Le Duc. These words are even more meaningful
considering the COVID pandemic,
a terrible crisis which tops up other crises
and which also shows how important it is
for a humanitarian organisation to have
people directly on site. " 98% of the ALIMA
staff is African. The COVID crisis was easier
to manage for us than for NGOs whose headquarters
are in Paris, Geneva or New York, "
says Guillaume Le Duc.
A " big crisis " is coming
ALIMA gets funds from institutional backers
(the UN, the European Commission,
the French and American governments,
etc), foundations, companies, and private
individuals. They say they have helped
about 6 million people since 2009. " Every
year, we save at least 30,000 people who would
❙ 47
©Alexis Huguet
ESCP ALUMNI magazine - Special Issue 2022

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