After four years, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has decided to end our programme providing medical care, mental health care, and social support to migrants in Honduras. This decision was made following a significant decrease in the number of people transiting through the country and the existing humanitarian response in the area.
Migration flows in the region over the last four years have been volatile and complex, and Honduras – being along the migration route between South and North America – has witnessed these changes. Since 2021, when we first began working with people on the move in Honduras, more than one million people have entered the country irregularly, according to the National Migration Institute.1 This is due to many factors, including worsening socio-political crises in the region, poverty, widespread violence, and administrative barriers that make it difficult to obtain legal migration status.
This situation led to a humanitarian crisis in various parts of the region requiring urgent attention. People on the move had multiple needs, many of which related to physical and mental health issues. In light of this, MSF in Honduras decided to create teams composed of medical, nursing, social work, mental health, and health promotion personnel to provide a comprehensive response through mobile clinics at the points where humanitarian assistance was needed most.
The municipalities of Danlí, Trojes, and Las Manos in Honduras’s El Paraíso department on the border with Nicaragua became the epicentre for people on the move. People were entering Honduras on their way north to Mexico and the United States. This is where we focused our activities.
“We witnessed throughout these moments the multiple medical and humanitarian needs that migrants faced and continue to face,” explains Jorge Castro Armijo, MSF project coordinator in Danlí. “The urgent need for a humanitarian response and the commitment of governments in Central America to guarantee this support are reflected in the migration route.”
“As MSF, our mission is to provide a prompt response where the needs are greatest; so, we worked to reduce the main physical and emotional consequences of the harsh journey,” he says.
With the arrival of the new US administration and subsequent harsh changes to migration policies, the number of people travelling from south to north has decreased. At the same time, some people voluntarily returned to their countries of origin or sought refuge in other countries in the region.
Basic healthcare needs
Due to the precarious conditions along the migration route, people on the move face various illnesses such as respiratory infections, gastrointestinal diseases, and skin problems. Since 2021, in Honduras, MSF provided 58,045 basic healthcare consultations.
Our teams also detected mental health issues among people, which required specialised support. Many migrants told us they faced sadness, fear, and anguish due to the difficulties of the journey, uncertainty about the future, and living in hostile, dangerous places. During this time, our mental health team conducted 2,022 mental health consultations. People were also diagnosed with complex conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, acute stress reaction, anxiety, and grief.
We provided care to people who experienced various types of violence along the route. This ranged from assaults to threats, extortion, kidnapping, witnessing murder, and sexual violence. During this period, our teams treated 878 cases of sexual violence. These incidents occurred at different points along the migration route
"We also urge for more resources to be allocated to the care and protection of migrants, as well as continued discussions to advance the approval of the new Migration Law that guarantees the elimination of immigration fines." Jorge Castro Armijo, MSF project coordinator in Danlí, Honduras
Our response included providing health promotion, social work, and mental health, allowing our teams to identify needs, understand the context, and develop a more precise analysis of the priorities of people on the move. We also strengthened ties with other organisations and created a medical and social referral system with them. We have also created safe spaces to empower migrants, so they could have coping mechanisms and foster resilience, during group support sessions, reaching more than 138,000 people.
Continuation of the humanitarian response
People on the move are exposed to violations along the route—often multiple times. Existing immigration policies and practices in Honduras contributed to the protection of migrants and helped reduce the risks they face while waiting or in transit. In recent years, an amnesty for immigration fines was approved and rest areas were created, including the Center for the Attention of Irregular Migrants (CAMI) in Danlí, which demonstrates the government’s commitment to ensuring dignified and safe migration.
“As MSF, we urge for humanitarian and state response to continue work together to reduce health, security, language, and shelter barriers for these people,” says Castro Armijo. “We also urge for more resources to be allocated to the care and protection of migrants, as well as continued discussions to advance the approval of the new Migration Law that guarantees the elimination of immigration fines.”
We call for improved coordination of humanitarian response. The Honduran government must continue mitigating the risks faced by migrants while transiting through the country, providing protection, and respecting their social and humanitarian rights.
We remain committed to continuing our two other projects in Honduras. In San Pedro Sula, we provide access to sexual and reproductive healthcare for adolescents, people who engage in sex work, and the LGBTIQ+ community. In Tegucigalpa, we focus on the prevention of arboviruses (dengue, Zika and Chikungunya). Our teams also remain on standby to respond to other humanitarian needs resulting from natural disasters, epidemics, and other emergency situations.