Members

The Association d’Entraide des Mutilés du Visage (AEMV) was created in 1979 to help people who have been disfigured as a result of a congenital malformation, an accident, a tumour or a disease.

Since 1994 it has been organising regular missions to Africa to reconstruct the faces of children mutilated by the disease noma.

Raising awareness, prevention and training of health staff and populations on the knowledge of Noma pathology in Mali, as well as its management and treatment.

Elysium is the first noma survivors’ association founded in November 2022. Elysium is committed to a threefold approach: supporting survivors, raising awareness and promoting an holistic approach. We seek to inspire empathy and action, advocating for better prevention and treatment.

Ensemble pour eux is a humanitarian association founded in 2006 in Granges-Marnand (Switzerland) that is primarily dedicated to caring for the most deprived children. Its aim is to initiate, share and support humanitarian actions or projects in Switzerland or in foreign countries to provide pre- and post-operative care and to provide entertainment during surgical missions organised with various partner associations in two aeras (maxillofacial and orthopaedic pathologies). 

Ensemble pour eux takes part in around 6 to 8 surgical missions organised in Burkina Faso, Mali or Madagascar in collaboration with local surgeons or European teams. These missions allow the care of around 300 patients per year, most of whom are children.

The Foundation provides financial support for projects focusing on children, their education, well-being, health and living environment in disadvantaged countries. It participates in the detection, treatment and care of children with visual and hearing impairments in developing countries. It is committed to the fight against NOMA.

The Foundation L’Hymne Aux Enfants aims to ‘welcome children suffering from noma and victims of war, disease and any form of violation of their integrity’. Active in Burkina Faso since 1995, it provides assistance to seriously ill and deprived children. Its work is based on four main areas: prevention, treatment, support and the fight against poverty. Since 2011, it has been working in partnership with the local association of doctors, ‘La Chaîne de Solidarité pour la Santé et l’Education’ in Ouagadougou, in its centre which includes a boarding school, a school and a medical centre.

Germany’s Gegen Noma Parmed e.V. is a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of noma, with a focus on sustainable, community-based approaches. It implements projects in Burkina Faso, working closely with local partners to strengthen health systems, improve nutrition, and promote hygiene and early detection. Training programs for healthcare workers, women leaders and awareness-raising initiatives in communities are central to its work. By prioritizing prevention and long-term structures, the organization aims to reduce the incidence of noma and improve overall child health. The organization works in close collaboration with its sister organization, Vaincre Noma in France.

Germany’s Hilfsaktion Noma e.V. (HAN) was founded by Ute Winkler-Stumpf (1943-2025) and focuses on the fight against noma. It operates noma hospitals in Niger and Guinea-Bissau and finances the Noma Centre Abuja in Nigeria. HAN runs children houses for pre- and post-surgical care of patients and finances nutrition clinics in Niger and Bissau. HAN’s training centers aim to build the capacity of African medical personnel in noma treatment. Prevention and sensibilization programs are also on the agenda, as is research into the causes of noma. As WHO’s cooperation partner, HAN has funded national noma control programs in various African countries.

ISGlobal is a research institute committed to promoting health equity through research excellence, innovation, training, and policy and advocacy. Since 2022, ISGlobal has worked on noma mainly through epidemiological and clinical research. In 2024, it led the Noma Echoes project in Mozambique, documenting the disease for the first time and assessing health practitioners’ knowledge. ISGlobal strives to turn research into real health improvements. Around noma this is done through advocacy and awareness-raising activities for the general public.

Through free medical and nutritional care, we screen for Noma in Kinshasa (DRC) at the Kasnoma Life Centre. We collaborate with other medical centres trained in screening and which send us children with the first signs of Noma. We raise awareness among the population through campaigns in markets, churches, etc. We work with traditional practitioners, trained to recognise Noma and to encourage families to come to the Kasnoma Centre quickly. All pathologies are also treated, as well as the mothers of the target children.

La Chaîne de l’Espoir is an international, independent, non-political and non-confessional NGO founded in 1994. Its mission is to improve access to surgical care for vulnerable people, especially children and women, in fragile or protracted crisis contexts.

La Voix du paysan, an Associative and Community Radio. It is legally represented by an association called the National Federation of Naam Groups (FNGN).

La Voix du paysan produces educational, cultural, informative and entertaining programmes. These programmes offer the opportunity for peasants to educate, educate themselves, express themselves and inform themselves in their own language. They also promote local culture and allow peasants to share their joys and sorrows. These opportunities are a real source of motivation for peasants who regularly listen to the radio. It can be said that La Voix du paysan is at the service of rural communities in Burkina Faso and takes their needs into account.

Les Enfants du Noma (EDN) is a French humanitarian organisation committed to treating the sequelae of noma and paediatric maxillo-facial pathologies. Through its international missions, EDN combines surgical care, local training and sustainable development of medical skills.

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is an international, independent medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency medical aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare. MSF assists people based on need irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation. In more than 70 countries, Médecins Sans Frontières provides medical humanitarian assistance to save lives and ease the suffering of people in crisis situations.

New Face is a Malian non-profit association recognised by the Malian government as a public-interest organisation. New Face has set itself the main objective of eradicating Noma throughout the Malian territory through three main areas of activity:

• Promoting the well-being of people living with Noma and congenital facial deformities by changing the fatalistic attitude of some communities towards these diseases through a system of information, training and awareness-raising.
• Preventing the disease by involving traditional practitioners, who are important actors and are respected by rural Malian communities.
• Providing comprehensive care for the disease and the socio-economic reintegration of people who have been cured.

The Noma Action Group was formed by one professor and a group of students at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto during the global pandemic. The mission of NAG is three fold: Raise awareness about noma in the Canadian dental and medical community; Educate ourselves to become experts about noma; and Advocate for global measures that work towards the eradication of noma.

NOMA-HILFE-SCHWEIZ supports projects that provide preventive care, surgical treatment, and nursing services to combat Noma. To achieve these goals, the organization works in close partnership with other groups dedicated to fighting this neglected childhood disease.

The Persis Burkina Association, created in 1994, acts: 

• in the health sector by creating the Persis paediatric medical and surgical centre, which aspires to become the Persis hospital in Ouahigouya (see the website)
•  in the social and professional reintegration of children suffering from noma after the surgical repairs that are currently being carried out by our surgeon trained for this purpose
• helping children of poor parents with schooling and vocational training.
• giving access to children with cleft lips and/or cleft palate to surgical cure in the Persis centre

Partner association of the Persis Burkina association, which aims to develop humanitarian projects and raise funds mainly for the ‘Persis’ paediatric medical centre in Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso.

PhysioNoma is an association that works to rehabilitate the sequelae of noma. It brings together specialised physiotherapists and speech therapists to train local healthcare teams and implement rehabilitation for noma victims.

The Sentinelles Foundation has been running programmes against noma since the 1990s. Its holistic approach provides support for people affected by noma, taking into account the specific medical, psychosocial, educational and economic situation of each individual. The medical component aims to ensure access to care, reconstructive surgery and physiotherapy. The psychosocial component aims to combat discrimination and improve socio-economic conditions. Health professionals, community leaders and the general public are trained and made aware of the issues of early detection and prevention of noma.