Who are we?
40 years of commitment to
access and the right to healthcare
Founded in 1984 by healthcare professionals, Santé Sud is an international solidarity organisation committed to the right to health for all, working with its partners to strengthen healthcare systems in the long term and empower populations.
Our programmes are designed around an integrated, global vision of health based on rights and gender equality. We act without replacing, building the capacity of our partners and developing the skills of health human resources so that everyone has access to quality care.
« Remove barriers, whether geographical, economic or social,
and contribute to fairer, more inclusive access to healthcare »
Our areas of expertise
Combating medical deserts and improving access to healthcare
Since its creation, Santé Sud has been working to bring medical care to rural areas in countries with limited resources, to combat the unequal distribution of healthcare professionals and to improve access to healthcare for people living in the most isolated regions.
Over 500 healthcare professionals have been installed by Santé Sud and its partners in Mali, Benin, Guinea and Madagascar. This innovative approach has proved its worth and provides a relevant and sustainable response to the fight against medical deserts.
Strengthening human resources in health
In all its programmes, Santé Sud trains primary and referral healthcare professionals, encourages their networking, works with them to draw up plans to improve care pathways, and sets up on-site monitoring and mentoring to ensure that training content is properly taken on board.
To do this, the association draws on its network of experts, comprising more than 40 health professions and medical specialities. This collaboration strengthens local skills, encourages the transfer of knowledge, enriches approaches and helps to empower local players.
Raising awareness and informing people about their rights to healthcare
Santé Sud’s mission is to empower the people affected by its activities to take action on their own health. The aim is to develop community-based, participatory approaches to enable people to make the right choices for their own health.
In partnership with our community partners, the aim is to provide communities with the information and skills they need to understand health issues, preventive health practices and treatment options. Using methodologies such as mobilising community relays and peer education, local people become active players in the projects and in their own health.
Our values
Co-construction
On a day-to-day basis, we work with our partners in the voluntary sector, healthcare professionals and institutions to build capacity, provide ongoing training, and encourage mentoring and exchanges.
Liability
We are working to reduce social and territorial inequalities in health and, together with our partners, are accountable for our actions to the populations concerned.
Expertise
We are a network of experts who draw on scientific data and experience to contribute to the continuous improvement of healthcare systems.
Justice
Our aim is to adapt healthcare systems so that everyone has fair access to the right to health, while respecting an ethical framework and local realities.
« We take action, without replacing anyone else and through joint construction with the public and our institutional and association partners, to strengthen the players in the healthcare systems while developing healthcare democracy. »
A direct and measurable impact
Through its actions, Santé Sud contributes to the 5 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations.
Our approach
Santé Sud works at all levels of the health pyramid and with all players in the health systems in the countries in which it operates:
A community-based, participatory approach
with the aim of developing individual skills and greater empowerment in terms of health and rights.
The aim is to provide individuals and communities with the information and skills they need to understand health issues, preventive health practices and treatment options. Using methodologies such as the mobilisation of community relays and peer-to-peer work, local people are fully involved in the projects and in their own health.
Strengthening civil society
to support local communities and advocate for health-promoting environments
All our projects are implemented in partnership with local associations, all committed to the right to health for all. From Rabat to Nouakchott, from Tunis to Antanarivo, Santé Sud contributes to the empowerment of associations of patients, healthcare professionals, defenders and activists of the right to health.
Our projects are co-constructed with our partners on the basis of a diagnosis of the local situation. They are implemented through a process of transmission, mentoring and exchange of expertise, with responsibility for the actions implemented being shared.
By supporting them in their activities and strengthening their capacities, Santé Sud works to ensure that civil society players make an active contribution to tackling health issues.
Partnership with the health authorities
in implementing and coordinating public health policies that meet the needs of populations.
The aim of this support is to strengthen healthcare structures and systems by forging alliances with the various stakeholders to achieve greater impact and sustainability. The partnership with the Ministries of Health is essential for co-constructing strategies, ensuring that they are part of national policies and ensuring their sustainability.
Strengthening human resources in primary and referral healthcare
to offer better quality care to all and guarantee the right to health.
We support medical and care teams in improving their skills to offer appropriate, high-quality care. The training and monitoring of healthcare professionals∙les is embedded in local contexts, taking into account the specific needs of healthcare structures and the rights of populations.
Santé Sud carries out its actions in such a way as to include the various factors that discriminate against populations, which often intersect, due to their economic and social vulnerability, their gender, their geographical isolation, or the violence and stigmatisation they may suffer.
Promoting international collaboration and exchanges of expertise
To encourage the development and exchange of international expertise, we work with an international network of 300 experts in over 40 healthcare professions and medical specialities.
Their mission is to participate in the design and implementation of projects both at our headquarters in Marseille, by supporting our teams, and in the field, by training and supporting our partners and civil society associations. This collaboration strengthens local skills, promotes knowledge transfer, enriches approaches and helps to empower local players.
Every year, we organise almost 1,700 days of training in our various areas of operation, thanks to our experts.
A Groupe SOS association
Since 1984, the SOS Group has been a major player in the social economy in Europe. It develops and unites associations and social enterprises, linked by their social and environmental commitment.
The SOS Group focuses its action on two major themes: on the one hand, medico-social care, managing establishments dedicated to young people, health, vulnerable people and the elderly; on the other hand, the preparation of a sustainable and inclusive future, with ambitious projects for the ecological transition, territorial revitalisation, sustainable businesses and accessible culture.
By tackling all issues, however complex, the SOS Group stands out for its boldness, resilience and capacity for innovation.
Secular and non-partisan, and active in a wide range of fields, it embodies a genuine social project.
22,000 employees, 2 million beneficiaries every year, 850 establishments, associations and social enterprises, 50 countries. The SOS Group, making a major impact for a sustainable future based on solidarity.
